Demon of the Night
by ou8smileydeath
Summary: *NOT BY ME! BY MY SISTER!*Jesse, a authoress finds that the creatures of the night that she writes about aren't all imagination... Will true love win out or will the vampires kill them both?  Summary sucks, and the characters are completely thought up.tnx


**Demon of the Night **

Prolouge

Hello, my name is Jesse. Okay, technically it's Jessica, but I prefer Jesse. This is my story. You may think this is fiction, but you have no idea of the world around you. I never really believed in this stuff either (I just wrote about it), but that was before I met him. I'd never thought that I would be compatible with anyone considering how most acted, and I was okay with that. I was always alone. Now, I know a lot of people who all want me dead. But they can't do much about it. Not anymore. I'm constantly on the run, and it may never end.

Chapter 1

_7 years ago._

_ "Mommy, can we go to the circus? Pleeease? I really want to go. We can get Daddy to come too."_

_ "Alright, sweetie. We'll go to the circus. Go find your daddy, I'll get dinner ready." _

_ "Daddy? Daddy! Come on Daddy, we're going to eat dinner and go to the circus!"_

_ "We are now, are we? Come on let's go eat."_

"_Let's go to the circus!"_

_ "Jessica!"_

_ "Mommy? Daddy? Are you okay?"_

I woke up that morning the same as any other, shaking from a nightmare, with "mom" pounding on my door. Karen isn't really my mom. You see, I'm an orphan; my parents died when I was six. A drunk driver had run a red light and hit them; my mom was pronounced dead at the scene, and my dad died at the hospital when he had me in his arms. At first, I thought that I had killed him. That I was too heavy on his chest. I wouldn't eat anything for almost a month unless someone forced me. Because of that, I was always thin in the extreme. I'd blamed myself for my father's death for four years until I'd finally learned the truth: that I didn't kill him, his heart gave out. I was at my grandmother's at the time. She'd always said that it was like he stayed alive only to hold me in his arms one last time before he went to heaven.

I'd loved my grandmother a lot. She was the most important thing in my life. She was the only one who could get me to eat anything, and the only one who ever made me smile. The only thing I didn't know was how much time we had. I stayed with my grandmother until I was eleven, when she died of cancer.

Then, Karen adopted me because she'd always wanted a daughter, as well as her son, Josh.

Two years ago, Karen Clark had come into the Boston Adoption Agency. She looked at twenty different girls before she'd seen me. At the time I was 14, and used to temporary homes. I never called anyone "mom" or "dad", because eventually they'd put me right back in the adoption building.

When Karen said she had adopted me I asked is she meant that she was my new foster mom. She'd said no, and that she was my mom from now on. Even at fourteen I wasn't stupid enough to believe that she wouldn't eventually give me up. I was just "too much of a handful," or "a bratty nuisance, who's wasting time," I was used to being called names. It was just a matter of…

"Jessica, wake up!" Karen yelled pulling me back from the dream of my past.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I yelled back at her. "God, I can't wait until I'm out of here." I muttered under my breath. Sometimes Karen just got on my nerves. I realized that I was sleeping at my computer desk, yet again. I couldn't believe my luck last year, when Karen actually got me the one thing that I'd wanted most in my time with her: a computer.

We hadn't known each other very long when she'd found me writing in a small journal that I'd found one day. I'd been writing stories for two years before Karen had found me. So she knew that I loved to write (hence the computer).

I turned off the computer and went to the closet, to find my outfit for the day.

I went downstairs for a few minutes to eat with Karen and Josh. We had pancakes and eggs, with orange juice. After I was done, I ran up the stairs to get to the bathroom before Josh.

After I took a hot shower, the warm water relaxing my stiff muscles and coaxing them into a brief moment of pleasure, I got dressed in the usual: jeans and a t-shirt. Today I was wearing a black shirt to represent my mood. I usually dressed according to the mood I was in. After my dream last night, I was in a foul mood. Usually, me in a bad mood equaled a lot of anger. I'm talking the littlest thing will set me off type of anger. I put on my makeup and got my books together. I didn't have much to take with me, considering that this was my second day of school here and the fact that I'd already gotten a locker and put my textbooks in it.

It was going to be a boring year. I could tell that much from the course list. Karen drove me and Josh to school, as she had yesterday.

"And Jessica, try not to get detention on your second day here." Karen said, as I finally tuned back into reality.

As I got out of the car I realized that this wouldn't be any different from any other place we'd been. The school itself looked like an old psychiatric hospital, and the people would probably fit into the psychotic category.

A new prison, I thought, what a perfect description. It's always the same, I thought, as I walked up the steps to the school. This school was called Northern Winthrop High school. And, as usual, I thought it sucked. Everyone avoided me when I walked in and I was instantly annoyed by them. Why couldn't anyone like the new kid? That was my main question every time I started a new school. I always wondered if people thought that they would get a disease from me. 'Hello, I _am_ a person! I _do _have feelings!' I felt like shouting at them. They were staring at me, as always. We had only moved in a week ago from Florida.

Chapter 2

My first day of school had been pretty easy. I'd gotten my schedule, supplies list, and course list. I also got to sit in on some of my classes to get an idea of where we were. In most of the classes, we were studying things I'd already learned throughout my many curriculums of education. I knew a lot with all the different studies I'd done even in just the last two years.

At this school right now my schedule was:

1.) Homeroom- Phillips,

2.) Reading- Phillips,

3.) Science- Jenkins,

4.) Language- Patterson,

5.) Social Studies- Silver (talk about ironic alliteration!),

6.) Spanish- Davidson,

7.) Math- Sims,

8.) PE- Jacobs ("A" days), or Band- Rardin ("B" days)

I also had what they called "Organizational Period" or- in my language- free class, at the end of the day. It was the period where you could talk to your friends, ask about stuff, and do homework. (Yeah it's called _home_work because you're supposed to do it at _home_.) It had been sunny, so everyone was in a good mood. Only one person though, was in a good enough mood to talk to the new kid, aka: me. While the teacher droned on about Charles Dickens during the third period of the day, I pulled out my mp3 player and started listening to Nickelback. (As long as you could hear the teachers, you were pretty much allowed to use the mp3's in any class. A few teachers though, weren't nice enough to let us have that luxury.)

I was listening to the song "How You Remind Me", when someone walked up to me and introduced herself. Her name was Naomi and she was the one that the guidance counselors had assigned to help me learn where everything was in the school, how to get from one class to the next, and pretty much everything else I'd need to know.

I was a pale girl, but I was surprised by how many pale students there were here. I sat alone listening to the teacher when it wasn't something I hadn't learned before. So I only had to listen in one class, PE. In Florida, PE, was only mandatory for two years and I'd decided to take it in the later years. Here it was mandatory all four years. Oh, joy.

I was in the tenth grade, so I still only had to take it for two years. My day was pretty boring and I really didn't care what was going on around me. My classes were all studying things that I already knew at the moment, so I didn't really pay any attention.

Once, the teacher asked me for an answer to his question not realizing that it was my first day. He was about to call on someone else when I answered. Of course he was shocked when I gave him the right answer. He watched me closely the rest of the period, and allowed me to participate if I wanted.

At the end of my fifth period class, one boy walked up to me, introduced himself, as Shane, and asked what my name was. He was a pale blond haired boy with a baby face, and chocolate brown eyes. All in all, he was one of the boys all of the girls were after, and I couldn't fathom a reason for him to talk to me. I answered him easily, telling him that my name was Jesse.

The rest of the day passed slowly, leaving me enough time to get the gist of how my days would be spent here. It would be a boring and monotonous routine, with no escape. Yippee.

School let out at 3:05pm, and everyone was happy. Now they can go play in the sunshine while I'm going to go face Karen so that I can go to my hidey-hole (aka: my room.). I'd have to come here five days a week until Karen decided it was time to try somewhere new. Not long, I thought inwardly.

At least there was rarely any sunny days.

Most people I know think I have a relation to vampires, mainly because I have an aversion to sunlight, I normally wear dark clothes (No, I'm not Goth), and I hate anything bright and peppy. The other people think that I'm an emo (an emotional person), mainly because I always wear long sleeves. I can't change what people think, besides why fight the inevitable.

Karen was always trying to make me smile, mainly because I never did. The only time I did was when I was on my computer, writing a new story. Normally my stories involved vampires. Okay one specifically: Dylan. Dylan was the main character from two of my books. Knowing that Karen would never stop persisting though, I wasn't surprised when I found her at home, waiting for me with an excited expression on her face.

"Hey, Jessica. How was school? Anyway, do you want to go shopping? My treat!"

"Um… school was fine." I thought for a moment. I could use some new clothes. "Sure, we can go shopping I guess. I think I could use some new clothes. One question though."

"Shoot."

"Is this one of those you have to approve the clothes things? I mean, not that I don't love the stuff you get me, but I want to find some stuff that are totally me. Would you mind?"

She deliberated, so I tacked on a "please", and she said yes. I was so stunned that she said yes that I smiled without knowing. She was so shocked that she couldn't move for about five minutes. After she regained the ability to move, we went to go get in the car. She let me pick the radio station, so I turned it to hot 99.5, and we started to listen to songs like "Paralyzer", "Apologize", and "Low". The car ride was relatively quiet on Karen's part, mainly because I had the radio blaring and was singing along to every song that came on. She was content that I was-for once-happy in her presence.

We were at the store in about ten minutes, and she immediately took me over to the stuff she thought I'd like.

"Karen, I'm going to go look at some of the other stuff." When she nodded, I went and looked at some racks across the aisle from her.

When I came back I had about six skintight shirts and some equally fitting skirts and pants. I also had some more loose fitting shirts and sweatpants. I thought I'd done fairly well with my time. She seemed okay with what I got, considering she didn't know how tight fitting it was.

Before we left, I went to the cosmetics counter and got some more of my favorite eye-shadows, which were dark blues, dark greens, and medium to dark purples. I also got some nail polish because I was out. I got blues, purples, greens, a silvery color and black.

I have a unique style, I know. Not Goth, but definitely not normal.

When we got home, I'd ran with my stuff up into my room, flung the bags down, and got on the computer. I had an idea about what was next in my story. I'd been in the mood to write, and my ideas came to me mainly from personal experience, or from my subconscious dreams. It made sense though considering I was always day dreaming. I don't know how long I'd spent on the computer that night, but what I did know was that I hadn't eaten, and that it was almost sunrise when I finally fell asleep.

The next morning started out like any other. With Karen calling my name until I woke up. I swear, you'd think after five years she'd know an easier way to get me up was just to come shake my shoulder. For some reason my sense of touch was extra sensitive. If something touched me, I'd instantly know. I was stiff from sleeping at my desk, so I was somewhat cranky when I went downstairs for breakfast. After I ate my waffles, I took a long shower, and blow dried my hair to perfection. It was straight and silky, which was the way I did it for special occasions. I don't know why I did my hair that way today, I kind of just felt like it. I got dressed in a pair of hip-hugger jeans, and one of the tighter medium blue shirts. I also wore my favorite black, platform sandals. I put on my makeup, which was a dark blue eye shadow, and a little lip gloss, and went downstairs. Karen didn't look at me once as she drove Josh and me to school. Josh though, wasn't sure it was me. I normally wore very loose clothes and a sweatshirt, so when he saw me, his eyes practically fell out of his head.

"Bite me. If you don't like my outfit, that's too bad." I snapped.

As soon as Karen was out of sight, I went to go find Naomi. She and I walked to English together, as I still wasn't sure of the way to get there. When we walked in, I noticed two empty desks next to each other. The bell rang, and I looked back at the teacher.

She introduced me to the teacher and gave me a quick smile. The teacher looked over my file quickly as Naomi went to go sit at her desk. She introduced herself as Mrs. Phillips and went over her grading policy with me while the morning announcements were on. All in all, I thought I'd like Mrs. Phillips. She taught one of my favorite subjects and according to the miscellaneous books on her desk, had the same taste in literature as I did. But then, she did the one thing that the teachers can do that I hate the most. She introduced me to the whole class. I blushed when everyone looked at me when she spoke.

"Good morning class." Mrs. Phillips said. "We have a new student with us. This is Jessica Clark." Addressing me, she said "You can take a seat next to Nicholas." She pointed towards the empty desks in the back of the room. There was one thing different though, now there was only one empty desk next to a boy with light brown hair. Something about him was off. It was almost as if he didn't belong in this class.

I walked down the aisle, sat down next to him, and took out my notebook and journal. I wrote some things down and noticed that he was watching me with a strange expression on his face. It was a mix of consternation and anger. He hadn't been here yesterday on one of those (apparently) rare sunny days. I looked over at him to see him still watching me. Annoyed, I looked him in the eyes and for a second it felt as if he were trying to get into my head and hear what I was thinking. Trying but not succeeding. It was the strangest feeling. I scowled and looked away; there was something about him that put me on edge. He seemed like he doesn't like me and there's something mysterious about him; something that nobody knew. I quickly took out my journal again, and jotted down a few things that had just come to me, for my book. Then, I opened my notebook and started copying down key points to the lecture, mainly just for something to do to pass the time. There wasn't really a point though, I already knew the material and if Mrs. Phillips gave me the test today I could pass it and get an A. I took out my mp3, and started listening to Avril Lavigne. I had all three of her cds, and they were all on my mp3. As I took my notes, I saw that Nick was watching me intently. I didn't like the feeling I'd gotten from him, so I discreetly shifted my hair from behind my right ear over my shoulder, so that there was a thick curtain of black hair between us. I didn't look at him the rest of the class period, because I was afraid that I'd lose my head again. That probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

When the bell rang, I was out of there before any one else. I found Naomi, she was one the only two friends I had. She was one of the "cool" girls, but she still talked to me. Naomi is blond, skinny, smart, and a soccer player. She was not the sort of person who'd usually associate with me, the new girl.

I told her about Nick and the feeling he gave me, and she just said "Chill out, he's just some guy who's in your class. He might think you're cute, did you ever consider that possibility? You are pretty cute, and at least half of the boys in our class think you're going to be their girlfriend." She was right, about the fact that he's just some guy (the rest I'm not so sure about). He'll probably have the same reaction everyone does after he tries to talk to me, I thought inwardly.

We walked to the cafeteria together and got our lunches, I got a slice of pizza and a diet soda, as well as a cookie.

Then, we went to go sit on the stage. Our cafeteria, for some unknown reason, had a stage in it. Most kids either went outside or sat on the stage. Today was a nicer day, so there were a lot of people outside. (Though why someone would sit outside in the rain was a mystery to me.) I preferred to stay inside, and stay dry. I was thinking about people and their foolish reactions, especially to death, why fight the inevitable? People would continue to baffle me as long as I lived.

Eventually, a couple of Naomi's friends came and sat with us. After the first five minutes of their conversation, I tuned out and started writing the next chapter to my newest book: "Dawn's Demon". It was a continuation of "Midnight Angel" which was the first book I'd written. "Midnight Angel" was about a vampire named Dylan.

I knew everything about him, from what his greatest triumph was, to what his greatest loss and embarrassment was. If I'd wanted to I could right an up-to-date biography about him. There was really no point though because most people already knew him from the descriptions in my books.

I spent a good twenty minutes writing in my journal and trying to figure out who Dylan would fall for. It was so puzzling not to know! I mean, by writing the books it was like I could read his thoughts and his emotions, so if he didn't know, then neither did I. Mind- reading was one of his special talents, along with sonic speed, and something, I guess, would be called hypnotism. I felt like I knew Dylan better than I knew myself. What a crazy thought!

I smiled thinking of this when I looked over to see Nick looking at me again with a smile identical to mine on his face. As if he could read my thoughts… No. Maybe Nick is a vampire. No, it couldn't be. Vampires aren't real. They are made up. I kept telling myself that over and over again, as I kept writing. For a moment I thought I was going crazy, I mean who'd think that some random boy is a vampire?

Writing books was my only release. The only escape I had, and the only one I could hope for. The one thing I could hope for was that I'd get major profits for my series on Dylan. Anyway, while writing, I found that Dylan had many different sides to him, including a sensitive side. Who knew?

"_Why? WHY? Why would you do that to me, I don't want to be one of the eternally cursed! Who would want to live forever, to experience the pain of death over and over?" Dylan awoke in a start, remembering exactly how his life was taken, and what he got in return. He couldn't let that one memory affect how he lived his life. Thought he wasn't really alive. He got dressed and went to school. What a piteous thought, a one hundred and sixty-seven year old vampire going to a public high school. "I wonder if she'll be there today, this author, whom I'm supposed to kill." _

_Dylan had no problem with someone writing about him, because most would just disregard the stories as fiction. As for the author though, he couldn't bear the thought of someone knowing about his past. About his failures, about him really at all. No, he was going to make sure that this author never wrote another word about his failures. He would watch her; now that he knew who he was looking for it shouldn't be hard. She was coming to him; he wouldn't have to hunt her down._

_Dylan had two minutes to get to the school before the bell rang. "I guess I could leave a little early today. I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen today." He muttered to himself. _

_Then, he was running, streaking through the woods like a bullet. He was at the school in seconds, and no one could stop the elation radiating out of him at this moment. He went to his locker, and as soon as he got the thing open, he noticed something different. _

_Usually, the lockers down the rest of the line from him were empty, now there was someone in the locker next to him. It's her! He thought trying to keep from opening the locker on sight. Soon, he would be able to tell for sure whether or not this new student was the one he was looking for. _

_Quickly, he ran to the classroom. The announcements were about to be on, and he made it to his seat in less than a second, the teacher looking perplexed, turned and erased the absentee mark next to his name. _

_Class started like any other, until a girl walked in. She was a shy girl, though she eyes like gemstones, and a body to kill for. He might feel a little regret about killing this girl, but she was the one who wrote the books. He knew in his gut that something would go wrong with his plan, but he ignored the feeling. He had the utmost confidence that it would work. It would be easy. No matter what she would stop writing down the chicken-scratch of his life. Even if he had to pull the pen from her cold, dead, hand. _

_The teacher sent he girl to sit next to him, where she immediately pulled out a journal and started writing a few things down. _

_At first, Dylan thought that this was her notebook for this class, but after she wrote the few things down she pulled out a binder and started copying the chalkboard. He was bewildered by the fact that she could write so much so fast. She was faster than any human, but slower than a vampire… almost a cross between the two. But that was impossible; there hasn't ever been a half-breed before. Not that Dylan knew of anyways._

I was barely aware of the conversation going on after Naomi's friends came over. When I was finally pulled back into consciousness, Naomi was asking me a question. Her friends were gone.

"Jessica? Would you like to go shopping tonight?" she asked, her voice full of anticipation.

Wow. I still can't believe she asked. No one other than Karen ever asked me if I wanted to go shopping. Normally, people asked if I'd made anyone cry during the day. It was usually hilarious to hear, but lately I hadn't been living up to expectations. I just hadn't gotten mad enough that writing couldn't take away the anger.

"Uh….Sure, please stop calling me Jessica. I prefer Jesse."

"Okay. I'll try to remember that. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad. I just didn't know." Her gaze wandered around the cafeteria, then seemed to lock on one area in particular. "Nicholas Sterling is staring at you." She giggled.

"Don't…wait who?" who the heck was Nicholas Sterling? And why in the world was he looking at _me_?

"Nicholas Sterling; you know, the cute guy with the hair that's black as a raven's wing, with blue eyes. I wonder why he's looking at you. He doesn't date, and the rest of his family is graduating. He moved here right before school started for his freshman year."

Chapter 3

I followed her gaze to Nick who was looking right at me. Looking into his deep, blue, eyes made me lose my head. It was astonishing how much power one person could hold over another. How could he do that sort of thing to me? Oh, God, what if I like him? I don't have any experience with guys! I could feel my heartbeat sped up rapidly as Nick continued to gaze into my eyes. He seemed to be concentrating very hard and I wondered what he was trying to figure out from looking at me. Amazingly, he figured out how to stop my heart. Why did it seem so strange though? It's not like have haven't been appraised by people before, whether it be for good or… not so good purposes. I was about to look away when something-something very faint- told me that I shouldn't, and that I should let him figure out what he needed to figure out. It was like a voice in my head, but it wasn't my own voice, it was a very familiar voice though… Dylan's. So much for the idea though! I'm so stupid that I'd let a fictional character dictate what I do.

I looked away quickly, and out the window. It was a dreary day in Winthrop, Washington, which was usual. I then saw Cody walking through the rain towards the cafeteria. My only friend other than Naomi was Cody Ryan, who is a warlock. We're neighbors, who'd met when I caught him doing magic in his backyard my first day here. I'd promised to keep his secret and we became friends after that. Cody came up and asked how I was doing when he reached our area on the stage. He and Naomi were going out as I realized my first day at this school. They were like the perfect couple; it got pretty disgusting at times. But… oh well.

"Fine," was all I said. Cody and Naomi started talking and I tuned out yet again. I was just finishing the chapter in my journal when someone snatched it away from me. I looked up to see Cody reading the page I was writing. I tried to grab it back from him, but he kept it safely out of my reach. He didn't play fair considering his height advantage. He was just trying to get on my nerves, and it happened to work. I was totally ticked off at this very moment. Trust me, it was to the point where I was ready to punch him.

"This sounds like Stormy Knight's books. Are you trying to be like her? That's sad Jesse, really sad."

I resisted the urge to kick him where it counted and glared at him, finally I said low in his ear, "I _am_ Stormy Knight. I wrote all of those books. And you can't tell anyone. Do you understand?" when he nodded weakly, trying to keep the shock from his face, I snatched my journal back from him so that I could keep writing.

Right now Dylan was using an alias to keep his identity secret from the author. Get this, his alias name was _Nick!_ It was uncanny, but true. At the moment they were in the cafeteria with him watching her from a distance trying to read her mind. He just couldn't seem to penetrate the walls of her mind.

"_I wonder why I can't in her head. She's nothing more than a human! Sure she has a half-brother who's a vampire, but still! Wait, that's it, she IS a half-breed, that's why she's so different. Wow! This is all so frustrating! It's not like I like her. She has to be on to me by now. I should kill her tonight, I already know where she lives, and I know her daily schedule. It shouldn't be a problem. Her mind barrier is weakening! I might get a slight chance to get in her head, why can't I get into her head like I can her friend's? My chance is coming soon, and I won't miss it!" Dylan thought while trying to get into the author's head. He'd been attending the public school for almost two years waiting for her to arrive. His friend's foresight told him that she'd be attending, just not when. Dylan was watching the author eat her lunch when he noticed her pull out her journal and start writing. "Hmm. Can I get the journal?" he thought out loud. He'd never noticed how fluidly she wrote when she was writing something in her journal. Just how fast she wrote it. She was sitting on the stage when she suddenly looked up at him. He could suddenly get into her head, but just barely. "Yes! This is my chance, I might not get another one, so I'd better not screw this up!" _

I looked up reflexively to see where Nick was. He was sitting across the cafeteria staring toward the stage intently. He then looked at me if he wasn't already. I stared into his eyes for a good minute and felt like someone was trying to open a door into my mind. For just a second, before I looked away I thought that I heard Dylan's voice in my mind. The voice told me to keep looking at him. But, that would mean that Nick was Dylan. No, _NO, _**NO! **Vampires DON'T exist. But if warlocks exist, could it be possible for vampires to exist too. Over my own voice I could distinctly hear another voice, Dylan's voice. I couldn't listen to it, I knew what was happening and what would happen should I let this continue. I could hear the voice with perfect clarity, above my own voice. The voice told me to keep listening to it and to keep the door open for it. In my mind I shouted, _"No, I won't keep this door open for anyone or anything, so get out of my head!" _ I slammed the door of my mind shut, and finally, the only voice in my head was mine and mine alone. I quickly jotted down the last of Dylan's thoughts before I heard Naomi talking to me.

"Jesse, are you ready? It's time for Biology. If we don't go now we're going to be late. We really need to go."

"Okay, okay, I'm going. God, I know that we need to go. Come on, let's get going." I said as Naomi started pacing away. I put my journal away in my book bag and got up.

Right before I left I caught Nick's eye once more. I was about to lose myself, when Naomi came back and got me. We walked to Biology together, half-running, and the whole way there I couldn't help feeling like someone was watching our every move.

I went up to the teacher, Mr. Jenkins; he was the only teacher I hadn't met from my schedule yesterday. I introduced myself and had him give me a quick outline on everything. When I turned around, I saw Nick sitting next to the only open seat in the classroom. I wondered how he got here so fast, he hadn't moved when Naomi and I'd left the cafeteria, and yet he was sitting there looking as if he'd been there the whole time. Mr. Jenkins had no choice but to send me to the only open seat. I knew this would be an interesting seating arrangement. I reluctantly sat down next to him for the second time today. He'd cleared off the other side of the desk while I was talking to the teacher.

"Hello, my name is Nick. You're Jessica, right?" He said softly.

"Jesse. I can't stand it when people call me Jessica." I took in his appearance for the first time. He was a little taller than me, had blue eyes (Oh, God, those eyes, hypnotic, stormy…), brown hair, was dressed entirely in black, and he also had a ring on his thumb. He dressed more like a "bad boy" than he probably was. I have to admit though, he was hot. Though I couldn't exactly pinpoint who he reminded me of I knew that I'd seen someone who fit the same description.

He was looking at me intensely again, I vaguely felt Dylan's voice creeping into my head yet again. I wasn't writing though, so I took it as something that wasn't good. Especially considering that the voice was telling me what to do, instead of telling me the rest of the story that I was writing.

"So, how do you like Winthrop, it must be different from Florida." He sounded like he was just talking to me to be polite. "It's definitely not as sunny as Florida, probably colder too." Again, it was if he were just trying to fill the silence.

"You're right, it's not as sunny and it is colder, but who cares?" I said vaguely. "I mean, I don't, but I'm used to living in different climates considering how much I've moved around." How and why does he make me lose myself this way?

"That must be…"he started, "irritating," he finished.

"Yeah well, it's the way my life is. But as soon as I'm out of high school, I'm going to go home." Whoops, I said way too much this time. Oh well the damage is done.

I shifted my hair over my shoulder again, nervous now. After a moment I looked over at him quickly. He was sitting on the extreme edge of his chair, with his chair as far away from me as it could go. _Dang! What had I done to him?_ I thought, as I noticed that it looked like he only wanted to get away from me. It was like in one of the vampire books I'd read, where the dude sits as far away from the new girl as possible because her blood smells so good. Why does Nick remind me of someone I know? _I need to take notes_, I reminded myself harshly.

"What do you mean by home, I thought you went home every day? I mean what you don't live with your family?" he asked.

Though I didn't want to answer his question, I did. "Let's get this straight, I'm an orphan. Karen adopted me. So, no I don't live with my family, because my family is dead. My home is the house that my parents left in my possession. It's the house I plan to spend the rest of my life in." After I'd finished that little tirade, Nick fell silent. Mr. Jenkins started talking then, saving me from any other questions Nick may have wanted to ask.

That hour, Nick and I had to do a lab together. I'd done the lab before, so I started showing off just a little. We were the first ones done, so I took out my journal and continued writing.

"_Crap! I can't believe she has that kind of willpower! She's a human. She's also very smart, and now that I actually look, she's also quite beautiful. _

_Why is do I have to kill her? I might just take her journal now; she wouldn't be able to stop me. Then again, Jesse just might be able to." he thought to himself._

_Dylan was surprised that anyone had ever been able to deflect his abilities, normally people would just try lying with their thoughts; no one had ever been able to stop him from reading their mind. He could just as easily steal her book and sabotage her next books._

_First though he should do some research on this author, this Stormy person. No matter what, she would not write anything else. Especially now that he knew her real name and what she looks like. He could even find out where she lives if he really wanted to. _

I looked back over what I wrote and nearly choked. Why had I written Jesse? I put the journal back in my book bag and accidentally knocked it over. "Shoot!" I muttered hoping that my journal didn't open. Nick leaned over and helped me pick everything up. Unfortunately, my journal did open and Nick was reading it. I couldn't do anything about it, he just seemed like the type of person that you didn't mess with. He gave me back my journal when Mr. Jenkins came to see why we weren't doing anything. He had a red pen with him, and when he saw the answers on our paper he wrote a big score on our paper. Neither of us looked at it, because we both knew what it was.

"You're a good writer. Have you ever written a book?" Nick asked.

He waited a couple minutes for an answer that he wasn't going to get, before speaking again.

"I know you might think I'm possessed, but I'm not. I'll warn you now: I'm not exactly the kind of person who easily makes friends. I'll try to be good though." He said.

I had absolutely _no_ idea what that meant so I just nodded and pretended to understand what he was talking about.

"Why do you care so much about what I do and think? Why would I care about whether you wanted to be my friend or not? I'm sorry, but I'm the same way with a slight difference: I don't care what you think. Not at the moment anyways. Besides, there's something about you that puts me on edge. Also, I get the feeling that you have a very big secret that you won't let anyone know about. At least no one here. I just can't take the drama right now. It's nothing personal, well not really."

While his mouth dropped, I pulled out my mp3 and started to listen to music while we waited for Mr. Jenkins to give out the answers. It was a long hour, with very little in the area of methods to escape.

When the bell rang, he was out of there before anyone had even gathered up their stuff. I stared after him in amazement. It seemed inhuman to be able to move that fast. Maybe Nick is a vampire…No! VAMPIRES DON'T EXSIST! I shouted in my head for the millionth time.

The next hour was language class and right now we were studying poetry. I have no idea why but we were, so… anyways my poem was something that popped into my head called _Silence. _It's a little different but cool. It goes like this:

_You left me waiting_

_Never to be seen again_

_One last message_

_A promise broken when made_

_To say " it will be as if I never existed," is a lie_

_Because it can never work that way_

_Though mortal memory is a sieve_

_We still hold on to many memories for the rest of our lives_

_Even now the silence is ringing in my ears_

_Waiting to be broken by the melodic voice that's only yours_

_Yet though it can be recalled by memory_

_Its nothing like the real thing_

_I still remember the way we laughed _

_Just before that fateful day_

_When you left me in silence_

_Taking part of me with you_

_It was like the music had come to an abrupt halt_

_Leaving me in the silence it created_

_It tore my heart out_

_I may never hear the music again_

_Losing you was like losing the music and joy of life_

_Only so much more painful_

_Because losing you is to lose a part of my soul_

_A part you have and will keep_

_Forever…_

When Mr. Patterson came to see why I wasn't working on a poem he read the one I had just finished and asked me to go make a copy that he could keep and use as an example for the rest of his students. He complimented the work saying that it was heartfelt and amazingly deep. Much to my dismay I blushed furiously at these comments.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, without any other encounters with Nick. During the whole day though, it felt as if I were being watched by some unseen force. I had a feeling that this would be a common feeling while I was here in Winthrop.

During Gym, Cody was my partner for volleyball. He'd seen me play, so he knew what would happen if anyone else would be my partner. I was amazed that his chivalry never ended. Even after inflicting a head wound, he was still going to be my partner. It was amazing that someone could be so forgiving. And almost sickening as he talked more than enough about Naomi. Volleyball was the second worst sport that was invented. Basketball was the worst. I was not an athletic person, so it had really ticked me off when I'd found out that I'd have to take Gym all four years.

Chapter 4

Why was school torture?

The teachers must be obsessed with making my life miserable. Everything went fine with volleyball. No one got any head injuries because of me. And I didn't have to do anything unless it was my turn to serve.

Halfway through the period, I started to feel sick. I asked Coach Jacobs if I could go to the nurse, he had Cody take me to the nurse but as soon as I was out of the gym, I was puking my lunch back up. Unfortunately, I puked on Cody's shoes and he had to go get his others. I soon saw Nick coming toward me from wherever he'd been.

"Jesse? Are you okay?" He was running towards me now.

"No. Go away." I groaned. His voice should not have been that familiar. I'd only talked to him a couple times.

He laughed and said he'd help me to the nurse. Afterwards, Nick suggested that he take me home, and I almost agreed. The only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that Karen would be there as well.

"Why are you doing this? I thought you weren't the type to make friends. Besides you don't even know where I live." I said.

"True on all counts, but then again I could always try to be friends with you. Would you like to try?"

"Why not?"

Dylan started dragging me towards his car by the back of my jacket. He only let go once we'd reached his car and I was standing against the passenger door.

"What was that for?"

I tried to calculate the chance of me getting back to the cafeteria for OP. It was slim.

"I'll just drag you back you know." Nick said. I could tell he thought that this was amusing.

I decided to try it anyway. The worst he could do was, well, drag me back to his car. I started running towards the cafeteria and got about a quarter of the way there before Nick had caught me by the waist. I was laughing the whole time.

"I told you I'd catch you." He said. This time when he took me to his car, he actually opened the door, put me in the seat, and shut the door.

I tried to be sneaky this time. While he was walking around the front of the car I opened the door and crept out and ran around the back of the car next to us. I went down a couple of spots and hid behind a blue Nissan. I waited a couple minutes until I heard him start laughing. I overheard him muttering something about me wanting to get away from him so much, and I started feeling guilty.

I decided that I shouldn't have caused him so much trouble when he was just trying to help.

I went back towards his car and noticed that his back was to me. I crept up behind him and put my hands over his eyes. He was startled at first, but then he took a deep breath and turned around.

"Jesse, I thought you wanted to get away from me." He said, letting only a fraction of the hurt in his eyes show in his voice.

"No, I didn't want to get away from you." I said laughing still. "I just didn't want to go back home. Plus, I have a shopping trip tonight and my friends will be a little worried if I don't show up. It's got nothing to do with me wanting to get away from you. I also thought it would be kind of fun. It was." I said.

Nick was okay with me going back to class saying that he'd see me later. I finally got to the cafeteria about when OP started actually.

We basically got to choose where we spent our OP period, so Naomi, Cody and I went to the cafeteria and sat in our spot on the stage. We started talking (about me puking on Cody) and soon enough, we were laughing together. OP ended and we had to go to our lockers.

After we went to our lockers, I met up with Naomi, and we went out. We talked all through the car ride and, we sang along to every other song that came on.

It was one of the best afternoons I'd had in a long time.

At the Store she picked up a few things. I got five black t-shirts, some jeans, and a couple necklaces and bracelets.

We tried on some outrageous outfits and were cracking up the whole time. She tried on a muumuu and I tried on a little pink dress that looked like something Paris Hilton would wear. Even Naomi knows that I don't wear pink.

I'm a moderate black person. I wear black at least two times a week without noticing unless someone points it out.

When we were done, Naomi wanted to go to the beach and get some new shells for her shell collection before we went to eat. I decided that while she was doing that I'd go to the local bookstore to see if my latest book was out.

I had an hour before we went to eat and the bookstore was a good walk of about twenty minutes each way, so I only had twenty minutes to look for the book.

I had written three books so far, and was working on another. Two of them were published already and the other finished one was on my publisher's desk.

I'd written under the name Stormy Knight. My latest: "Creature of the Night" sadly wasn't out yet, but I'd be checking for it again soon.

When I picked up the first book I'd had published: "Midnight Angel", I saw Nick walking towards me looking impassive. I still couldn't figure out who he reminded me of, and it was driving me nuts! It felt as if he were the one who'd been watching me all day.

"Are you following me?" I asked before I thought about it. That was a stupid thing to say. What if he were following me? That'd be pretty creepy. Plus, I probably would have enough people wishing me dead if you factor in all of the religious people, vampire hunters, and even the nut jobs who believe that they are vampires,(They'd probably think I knew too much about them.)

"Maybe, just a little bit. Am I being that obvious? I _could_ stalk you and not let you know I was watching you. But then, you never know what I'd see." He laughed playfully. It almost seemed like he was flirting with me, something I wasn't accustomed to. He also seemed to be hiding something as if he knew exactly what I did when I wasn't at school. It was starting to creep me out.

He then picked up a copy of "Midnight Angel" and flipped through it. He stopped for a second on one page. He read the page carefully as if he were wondering who could write such a thing, (probably one of the religious people, or supposed "vampires"). He spun around to the counter, seeming interested in the book. He bought the book, not knowing who wrote it. He also asked the clerk if she knew anything about the author. She said no, and that there would be a new book coming out by Stormy Knight. She said it'd be a continuation of "Midnight Angel". After he finished his conversation, he came back to talk to me some more, most likely about if I knew about the book. Surprisingly he didn't say anything for a couple minutes. The silence seemed almost endless until finally, I broke it.

"Do you like that book?" I asked because I was truly curious. It suddenly hit me then, why he put me on edge and why he looked so familiar. He looked suspiciously like Dylan. Dylan was the main character from my book "Midnight Angel" and from "Dawn's Demon". He was a strong, opinionated, boneheaded, and yet still scary person in my opinion. I didn't know why Nick looked like Dylan, but he was almost certainly NOT Dylan. Of course, Dylan didn't exist, not unless all of my books were true, which was impossible. Nick was silent for a minute as he read the rest of the page he was on.

"I don't know, though it seems to be about someone I know very well. It's odd you captured his very essence." He said sounding somewhat amazed. It was as if he thought no one could capture the essence of a fictional character.

"What?" I said shocked.

Ignoring my question he asked, "Would you like to go to dinner with me? You haven't eaten anything today," and because I was dumbstruck by that one, I just nodded. Where had that one come from anyways? Why would he even want to eat with me? Did he have ulterior motives, or was I just being my usual paranoid self? These were the questions that haunted me during the whole walk back to the store and, then the walk to the restaurant as well. With me being preoccupied and him comfortable with the silence, we didn't talk much during the walk. I briefly wondered why he seemed so relaxed when it came to the quietness. Soon enough I'd find out. I would unravel all of his mysteries before they put me in the ground. We finished the walk with a short conversation on the rest of our days at school since Biology. It took about an hour altogether meaning I was seriously late for dinner. Naomi had already eaten by the time we got there. When Naomi saw me she ran to me relief on her face, and then confusion. She asked what happened and where I'd been. I explained it briefly, and then apologized.

"I'm sorry, I got lost. Then, I ran into Nick."

"Oh, okay. Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"I don't need to,"

"I think that you should eat something." Addressing Naomi he said, "I'll drive Jesse home that way you don't have to wait for her."

Naomi nodded and went to get in her car. I ran after her and got my bags out of her trunk.

"Thank you so much! I had a great time. We should do it again sometime."

While I did that Nick popped his trunk for me, so I put my stuff in it and closed it. Nick was on the curb waiting for me.

"Really, I'm not very hungry, we don't have to do this."

"But I want to. Plus, if you're not _very_ hungry, that means you _are_ a little hungry. So humor me, 'kay?"

"Okay, I guess I can't argue with that logic." And quite frankly, I didn't want to. His eyes, which were usually a light color, like sky blue, were darker now, almost midnight blue. It might explain why he was crabbier than usual. Yet again, I found myself wondering what lied past the calm façade that he always wore. What was the one thing that made him tick? Who did he despise and why? So many questions, so few answers.

We went inside the diner and sat across from each other in a booth. We were in an almost empty area where we wouldn't be disturbed. Unerringly, while thinking to myself, I blurted out the question that had been on my mind all day: "What are you?"

He was startled by the question, but recovered quickly. "Have you read Stormy Knight's books?" You could say that I had, considering I wrote them. "I'm what her main character is." He said this as if he were disgusted. This popped my theory back into my head, and I wish that it hadn't. The theory that he was Dylan. That he was a vampire. My theory suddenly didn't seem so far off, maybe everything that I'd written was true. Maybe, I had more enemies than I knew. I shuddered at the thought of people wanting to kill me, though I shouldn't have. My main thing was that you shouldn't try to fight the inevitable.

"Well that proves my theory." I mumbled. I had somewhat always hoped that Dylan was real. Now, though I had no idea if that were going to be a good thing. Although, when I was little, all of the other girls wanted to be ballerinas, while I wanted to be a vampire. I guess if this were true, I might get my wish. His face was briefly confused, before he composed himself enough to ask a question.

"What theory?" he was hesitant; as if he was sure he wouldn't want to know. It was somewhat amusing to see him confused.

"Do you like Stormy Knight?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Do you like me?"

"Yes, I do a lot. Would you tell me why?"

"Just curious. Why do you like me?" I said.

"I just do. You're very good at distracting people. Now what was the theory that you were talking about?"

"The theory was that you're Dylan. The main character from that book. Are you?"

"How would you know who Dylan is if you haven't read the books?"

"Mostly because I wrote them. By the way, how did you know I was the author? And also, could you not tell anyone that I'm Stormy. Anyway, they were just dreams that I felt compelled to write. But if you're Dylan, then I'm in trouble aren't I?"

He thought for a minute composing his thoughts. "I knew because of your essence. No, I won't tell anyone you're Stormy. And, normally, you would be, though right now I don't feel like killing you." He said, so calmly that my anger rose up and boiled over. I just couldn't stop myself.

"What so you're going to kill me anyway? Well that's just great! I can't wait for you to try, that way I can kick your butt. Come on, I can take you anytime anywhere."

"I don't like your attitude right now, plus we're in a public place. Could you please calm down a little bit?"

"NO! And what are you going to do about my attitude, hmm?" I asked snidely. I was about to make another remark, when he did the one thing that I wouldn't have expected from that conversation: he _kissed_ me! I couldn't believe it, though it was probably just so that he could get me to shut up.

When he broke away he said breathlessly, "That's what I'm going to do about it."

"Wow. Now after that will you tell me why you like me?" I asked hopelessly.

"No." He said chuckling.

During the car ride home he asked me questions about my life. Since I already knew pretty much everything about him, he just started asking me. He asked me about movies, books, music, and art I liked. He asked about people, and my hobbies, and what my parents were like before they died. He also asked about my past and understood what it felt like from both sides. It was nine-thirty when Dylan (aka: Nick) pulled into my driveway. He walked with me to the door and gave me a long goodnight kiss. I went inside and straight up to my room. That was when I realized that I'd left my stuff in his trunk. "I'll get it tomorrow." I said sleepily. I lied down in my bed, thinking of Dylan and the way he'd kissed me. I wondered if that meant that we were dating or not.

I was half-asleep when the phone rang. It was Naomi wondering how it had been. I heard Karen on the other end of the phone trying to eavesdrop. "I'll tell you tomorrow okay?" With that I hung up and went back to bed.

I slowly drifted to sleep. That night I'd dreamed about Dylan for the first time.

The next morning instead of Karen yelling to get me up she actually came in and gently woke me. Before she'd let me get dressed she had to tell me something, it was apparent in her eyes. Instead of saying something though, she just left without a word, leaving me completely bewildered. After I got dressed, I noticed for the first time the little blue car with Dylan in it waiting to pick me up. He noticed that I'd forgotten my jacket and lent me his. "I left my bags in your trunk, last night."

"I saw, they're in your room. You're wearing one of the tops now." He was right. But how….

"How did you get them in my room?"

"Truth is I've been in your room every night for the past week. Last night I brought your bag in with me."

"How did you get in my room though?"

"Vampire here, remember? Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

"Yes, I knew…Wait a minute. What did you hear?"

"You said it was to wet here. You also said my name."

We finished the drive talking more about my past and the many places that I've lived.

Naomi looked at me when we started towards class. I was pondering over what to tell her when Dylan asked, "What will you tell her?"

"Excuse me? Were you reading her mind or mine?"

"Hers. But you didn't answer my question."

"What does she want to know?"

"Basically, it's are we secretly dating? How do you feel about me? And what happened last night?"

"Okay, so what should I say? 'Yes we're dating' and 'We saw each other at the bookstore and ended up deciding to have dinner together'"

"Well that would work, but you forgot a question."

"You'll have to listen for that answer. _If_ I decide to answer that question."

Naomi caught up with me during Spanish, and bombarded me with her questions. I answered them the way I had earlier until she asked me how I felt about Nick.

"I don't know, I mean I really like him okay. But there are other things to him that I'm still trying to figure out."

That was the end of _that_ conversation.

During the school days, I had keep up with his alias name and call him Nick all day, even though I knew the truth. It was so frustrating! I kept slipping up and calling him Dylan. It was horrible.

A week later Dylan and I took me on our first official date. He took me to a clearing that was only lit by the full moon. He had also brought a radio with him. He turned the radio on and we started dancing under the full moon. For me it was like heaven on earth. We danced for hours, only taking breaks when we were hungry. To restore our energy we had gummi worms, ding dongs, and cokes.

When we got back to my house I kissed him quickly. We'd already agreed he'd be coming back later without his car. I went inside where I was bombarded by Karen. She tried to pry the details out of me, but I didn't say a word. I went upstairs and into my room. I tossed my purse onto my bed and went to open the closet so I could put my new clothes away. When I went to get the clothes from across the room, something grabbed me from behind, and cupped my mouth. I started flailing, but then I saw the ring, so I knew who it was and stopped. When Dylan let me go, I muttered under my breath. "What a buffoon!" Then I said a little louder. "Dylan, you're a brain-dead monkey, you know that."

"But I'm _your_ brain dead monkey," he laughed. We talked for about an hour, just about random things, before I fell asleep in his arms. I slept dreamlessly that night, aware, even in unconsciousness, that he was there.

I woke up the next morning to find a note from Dylan:

_**Jesse-**_

_** I left at about 3am; I'll come get you before school. We really do need to work out a system for sleepovers.**_

_** -Dylan**_

He stayed with me until 3AM! Why would he do that? I pondered this until I was downstairs, eating breakfast.

Chapter 5

As promised Dylan had come to get me for school. At first I stood gaping at the car that he was driving. It was an electric blue, Ford mustang, with a retractable top. It just also happened to be my dream car. Though today was chilly, I deliberately forgot my jacket so that I could wear his. The day is less boring when I'm with Dylan. For once I actually look forward to school. Probably because I get to learn more about how he reacts to people and their questions. Also, because with him there, I didn't have to worry about writer's block, because now I was writing from personal experience, instead of from the eyes of the past. I didn't really pay attention to anything from my first period class, and instead I daydreamed. I was pulled back into my body when I started hearing someone call my name.

"Hey, Jesse! Wait up." Cody called again from behind me. I slowed and let him catch up. "You want to see something after school today?"

"Like what?" I asked somewhat reluctantly.

"A zombie that I can control with chocolate." He answered proudly.

"O-Kay…. Sure." Just then Dylan walked up and asked me what I was doing this afternoon.

"I kinda already made plans with Cody; but I'm free tonight." I said hopefully.

"How about around seven, I come get you and we'll go see a movie."

"Perfect. I'll see you then."

At about 3 pm, Cody caught up to me on my way home. "Wait up! Jesse! WAIT UP!"

I slowed down to let him catch up again. Then we walked together for a couple minutes.

"Dang, you're going to make me lose my voice from as much as I have to call your name. Hey, do you still want to see him?"

Since he'd told me about the zombie my curiosity levels had skyrocketed. "Sure," I said, "I'd like that." He then walked me to his house where I met the zombie.

"His name is Bob," Cody said excitedly.

"It is a zombie, it has a name, and WHY is it BOB!"

"I don't know. Bob just felt like the right name. Do you want to feed him? His favorite food is Ding Dongs."

"No thank you," I said warily. "Feeding zombies is not on my list of things to do."

"Okay. Bob- sit, staaay, good zombie!" Cody tossed the zombie a ding dong, and returned his attention to me. "So, you're dating a vampire, that…. sucks." He finished honestly. (How STUPID was that pun?)

"Yeah, well it's not your decision. It's mine." I replied.

"Hi Jesse! How are you today?" Cody's dad called from behind me.

"I'm fine." I called back. I looked behind me to see Cody's dad with some lady who I didn't know. She was glaring at me as if I were her mortal enemy.

"Who is she?" I asked Cody.

"Oh, that's my aunt Melinda. I'd stay away from her if I were you."

"Why?"

"She's a vampire hunter. No offense, but you reek of vampire. She'd probably try to kill you if you got too close to her."

"O…kay. Apparently I didn't want to know. So, witches have enemies?" I asked.

"Yeah. Witches and werewolves are alike in one way at least. They both only have one enemy a vampire. Unfortunately for vampires, they have many more enemies. Their enemies include: witches, werewolves, certain humans, and one other that I can't remember."

Just then, I heard a noise behind me. Bob's nose was falling off. He pushed it back into place with the hand that had his ding dong in it. Now, it looked like he had ding dong coming out of his nose. I saw that and burst out laughing. Cody saw and started laughing with me. There is no way better to lighten a mood that includes impending doom than to see a zombie's nose fall off and the zombie fixing the problem with the hand that has a hostess Ding Dong in it.

"What time is it?" I asked still giggling.

"It's about 6:45. Why?"

"Shoot, I have to go, I have a date tonight."

"Oh, get out of here. See you tomorrow."

"Bye!" I rushed home and changed before Dylan got there.

It was another warm and full mooned night so we went to the clearing as we usually do after the movie. Only tonight we had a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Doritos, and cokes. We were still dancing at midnight, when Dylan suddenly started humming a song I didn't know. "What are you humming?" I asked, curious.

"What you don't know?" He asked with mock surprise on his face.

"No, I don't. But it sounds cool." I said truthfully.

"It's a lullaby I'm working on for you."

"Oh yeah, you were working on it a couple nights ago, weren't you? Wait. For me?"

"Yes, I was. And yes, it's for you. I thought you'd like it."

"I love it." I leaned over and kissed him for a long moment. He then pushed me away gently. "What's wrong?" I asked. This was the first time he'd ever pushed me away.

"I need to feed."

"Didn't we just have sandwiches? You can't be hungry again already." I said amazed.

"Not that kind of feed. I need blood."

I was quiet for a minute, thinking of what it might be like if Dylan took blood from me.

"Oh, I forgot that you were a vampire. Do you drink human blood?" I asked.

"Not unless I'm changing them. I'm what the vampire community considers 'vegetarian'." (Wow, vampires can use air quotes too!) "You might want to go home now. It's not safe for you here."

"Why not?" I asked confused.

"There are many vampires who want to kill you. They think you know too much about us. There are only two ways to get them to stop hunting you. The first is for you to die. The second is for you to become a vampire as well. You'll die either way."

"Well, aren't you reassuring?" I said sarcastically. "I want to be a vampire. You know I've always been different. The one time I came to your house, even though I didn't get inside, I felt like I was finally home, where I belonged."

"Really," he said. "And would you feel as if you belong if you found out you had a vampire half-brother who wants to kill you?" he asked bitterly. "Someone who wants you taking a dirt nap? Someone who's a soulless bloodsucker?"

"I have a half-brother? How? Both of my parents are dead. And, by the way, just because you're a vampire doesn't make you soulless." I pointed out.

"He wants to KILL you!" Though he sounded exasperated, he didn't argue about the whole soulless thing.

"But how am I related to him?"

"Your father was married once, before he married your mother, and he had a son."

"Can I meet him?" I asked truly shocked and curious.

"I guess, but he already knows what you look like. He's carried a picture of you for the last year. That's how I knew who you were."

"How'd he get my picture?"

"Your father sent it to him. Wait, you're missing the point. He's a vampire, AND he wants to KILL you, for heaven's sake!" he said annoyed.

Dylan then took me home and went to go feed. I dreamt about what my brother might look like.

I woke up early, surprised that I'd beaten even Karen. Today is my birthday, I thought. As usual Dylan came to pick me up. Only today he was driving the electric blue mustang. But this morning I was upbeat and happy. "Who are you and what have you done with Jesse?" he asked playfully.

"Monkey." I said smiling. "Can we go tonight?"

"Go where?" he asked confused.

"To meet my brother, duh."

"Is that why you're so happy? You found out you aren't completely alone. Sure, we can go tonight."

"Thank you so much." I leaned over then, and gave him a huge kiss.

"But we will have to watch out for Jasmine. She wants to kill you very badly. She can't stand that there are published books about us personally."

"Who's Jasmine? Or do I not want to know?" I said reluctantly.

"You probably don't but since I don't want you dead… Jasmine is an ancient vampire from the time of the pyramids. She doesn't want people to know her history like people know mine now. She wants to stop you before you get to her history. So far she hasn't tried any thing because I've been with you during any chance she can get, but she'll try something soon. I must warn you not to draw blood from any vampire. That would give them grounds to kill you whenever and wherever they want."

"Okay, no drawing blood from a vampire, got it." I said.

"Good, now let's get to class before we're late." Dylan had gotten his class schedule rearranged to match mine. We were now on our way to 3rd period language arts with Mrs. Patterson.

"Okay, class let's turn in our essays and then we'll have silent reading." She said trying to gain order of the noisy classroom. I turned in my essay and cracked open my battered copy of "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. "Twilight" was my favorite book in the world and I could never seem to keep from reading the series at least once a month. As soon as I got to the part where Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire, Dylan passed me a note.

_**Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday? That was the only thing I didn't know about you (because you refused to answer me). Anyway, at lunch I'll have a gift for you. I can't believe you didn't tell me Jessica! That is so rude! I had to find out from Cody! You tell him this but not me? Who's the boyfriend here? **_

_** -Dylan**_

_I didn't tell him, he found out from my birth certificate. He found it in my journal the day he took it from me. I haven't even told Karen, for Christ's sake. And __DON'T__ call me Jessica.! _

_ -Jesse_

I passed the note back to him. Great, just great! He found out. Cody was the only person who knew, (other than Josh, whom I'd told, but he'd promised to keep it a secret). I hadn't even told Karen, for Pete's sake! I made through the rest of the hour without running back to my house.

After language arts Cody and Dylan both came at me. I had nowhere to go so I just stood there and waited for them to get to me, then, we walked to lunch together. Cody gave me his present before he went to his table. His present was the other two Stephenie Meyer books: New Moon and Eclipse. I gave him a quick hug and a sincere thank you. He blushed a little and walked off. I was now left to face Dylan. If I haven't mentioned this before, we're allowed to eat off campus if we want as long as we come back for classes. Dylan took me to his house to get the present. I realized that this was the first time I'd ever been inside his house. I did a quick in take of everything on my way up to his room. The living room was a cozy-looking room with a black leather couch, loveseat, recliner, and a mahogany coffee table. We went up to his room and he had me close my eyes. His walls were white and his curtains were black like his bed set. He had a stereo, DVD player, and bookshelf in his room, as well. "Come sit on the bed. Then, I'll get the gift." He led me to the bed and two seconds later he was back with a medium sized jewelry box.

I opened the box and was immediately astonished. Inside the box was a black onyx bat charm on a black cord. With it were earrings. They were dangling daggers, and I immediately loved them. "Oh. My. God! They're beautiful. Thank you so much." Without thinking I threw myself at him and kissed him tenderly.

"Glad you like them. Here, let me help you put the necklace on." he said softly. "You know I can't remember if your brother knows when your birthday is. Though if he does, I'm pretty sure he won't kill you tonight. By the way the mustang is yours. I got it for you awhile ago. Still, I don't think your brother will harm you."

"That makes me feel loads better." I said sarcastically, while putting on the earrings. "Okay how do they look?"

"Beautiful. As does the person wearing them." he said matter-of-factly. "So, do you think we should go back for classes?"

"We'd better, or else Karen will be all over me."

"Well then, let's go. We can be back before five minutes have gone by." He said smiling.

"How?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Running." That was all he answered before picking me up and running down the stairs and through the door. He ran all the way back to the school and wasn't even breathless when he set me on my feet.

"Wow." I was at a loss for words. That had to be one of the most thrilling experiences of my life.

The rest of the school day passed uneventfully. We got our report cards and surprisingly I'd gotten all A's on mine. I'd been doing well in school since I met Dylan. When I got home Karen was all over me about my report card before she even saw it. She was surprised when I showed it to her and said that I was going out for the night.

"Okay, I'll see you later. And good job with your schoolwork." With that she went upstairs, and Dylan came to pick me up.

Chapter 6

"Are you ready?" he asked seeing my expression.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I'm nervous, and a bit scared as well though." He started chuckling at that comment and I didn't mind.

Once we got back into his town, we went to the local bar. Dylan walked me up the set of stairs and down a hallway. He opened a door and instantly I knew it was him. My brother, (half-brother really, but still).

"Hello Jesse," he said politely. "I'm Jasper, your half-brother."

"Uh…. Hi" I said.

"You're much prettier in person. I hear today's your birthday, is that true?"

"Yes, it is."

"How old are you now?"

"Sixteen."

"Where did you get that jewelry?" he asked talking about my necklace and earrings.

"I got them as a gift from Dylan." Just then, Jasper shot a glance at Dylan. "Why do you ask?"

"Did Dylan tell you what that jewelry means?"

"No. Dylan what does it mean?"

"It means that no vampire can kill you."

"Why does it mean that?" Jasper piped in.

"It means that because the jewelry symbolizes that you are mine to change, kill, or feed off of whenever I'd like. I did that to save you. I didn't want to see you die." He said trying to convince me that it was a deed from the heart, though I did not need him to convince me. I knew that he'd only do something like that for my safety, and that for now I was safe.

"It's okay. I don't mind what you did."

Jasper piped in again, "There's one other thing you need to know about before you can say that. There's a ceremony that must happen within three days of the person getting the jewelry. You must let him take your blood so that he will be able to find you anywhere you are. It's a big risk. Are you willing to take it?"

"It's up to you Jesse, but if you say no, I can't stop any vampire from killing you or taking your blood." Dylan said.

"I'll do it, but I'd like to do it in a more private area, without you there, Jasper." I replied.

"Okay. We'll do it at my house. I'd like to get it over with."

"Yeah, me too, well it was nice meeting you Jasper, I hope we can get to know each other better."

"As do I." he said.

Once we were at Dylan's house he got me a drink. "Here, drink this. It'll calm you down." I took the drink and sipped at it. "Can we get this over now, please? I really don't want this to take all night."

"There's one thing I want to tell you first. Okay here it goes. I love you." After saying that I couldn't look at him. When five minutes passed with out a response, I finally looked at him. He stared at me for a moment, then pulled me toward him and gave me a long kiss that had us both gasping for air by the time he pulled away.

"I love you too, Jesse. I always have, why do you think I did what I did instead of killing you on the spot. Now can we get on with this?"

"Yes, I guess we can but you seem like you don't want to taste me. It hurts." Once I said that, he put his arm around my waist, pulled me towards him, gave me a quick kiss, then bared my neck so that he could bite down. I felt my blood rushing to the tiny punctures in my neck where Dylan was drinking. A few minutes later he let go of me and sat on the couch.

"I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon," he said breathlessly.

"What I don't taste good?" I said faking disappointment.

"That's just it, you taste too good! If I kept going you would be dead."

"Will you tell me why you like me now?"

"You remember that?" he said astounded. "Yes, I guess I could. At first it was because your blood smelled so good. I followed you to see if there would be a good area to take you. But as I got to know you, it was more because of your personality and your thoughts and opinions."

"You were going to kill me? I thought you were a vegetarian vampire."

"I am. Your blood smells so strong to me, that it would have broken all of my self-control. It took all I had not to take you any time you were near me."

"Okay. So, do you want to tell me what's up with the jewelry?"

"The jewelry marks you as mine. Sorry, it was the only thing I could think of to do. But, anyway, the jewelry symbolizes that only I can drink your blood, kill you or change you. But for that to be effective you have to be wearing at least the necklace. You can never take it off. Got it? Not unless you want to be dead." He said fiercely. "I forbid you to take the necklace off." That was not a good thing to say to me, considering the fact that I hated being ordered around.

My anger flared to life. I started screaming and was ready to walk away at that very moment. "I'll take the necklace off if I want to. I probably won't though, because I like it to much. If this relationship is going to work, though, you're going to need to stop using words like forbid and allow around me. I don't take well to commands, rules, or especially authority figures." I said truthfully, calming myself down.

"Okay, I'll try to do better."

"Good monkey."

Dylan took me home and met me upstairs in my bedroom.

"So, what will we be doing for the rest of your birthday?" he asked.

"I don't know, we have the cake and presents out of the way don't we? Hmm. Ah, I know, how about a little one on one conversation. We could start with why you wanted to kill me."

"At first it was because you knew too much, especially about me. But then it was more of me wanting to take your blood. I'm sorry."

"Okay. Apparently I didn't need to know that. Let's try something different. Okay, how about a little special treatment? I could really go for a kiss right about now. And then some hugs before bed, and finally I'd like you to stay all night." I demanded.

"Your wish is my command. Bring on the handcuffs, I'm your prisoner." He said laughing as he pulled me to him.

I fell asleep quickly in his safe arms. It was a peaceful and restful night as I got the sleep I so desperately needed.

The next day at school, I met up with Naomi after Spanish. I was going to see if we could do a girls' day after school. "Hey, Naomi, do you think your mom would let us go shopping tonight? I really want to get out of here for a bit."

"Yeah, me too. I'm sure my mom will let us borrow the car. She's been wanting me to go out for like a month now."

"What? Not hanging out with the popular girls anymore?"

"No, not anymore. I found out what they're really like."

"Which is what exactly?"

"Stuck up, snotty, bratty, brainless fashion zombies. Basically everything you called the preps your first day here. But, yeah, we can go tonight. We'll go shopping, catch a movie, and grab a bite to eat."

"That sounds great. I'll see you at 3pm." I was happy that I would get to go shopping with her. It would be a girls' night out. I needed to get a dress for the dance that was coming up. It was a girl's choice dance, so I'd be asking Dylan tomorrow. I wanted to get the outfit first, that way I could show him what he'd be missing in the off chance that he said no.

The dance was semi-formal, and I had no idea what that meant so Naomi helped me find a few things that would be great for this type of thing. There was a limited amount of dresses in the store, so I only found three that I liked. One of them was a smooth, strapless, black number. The second was a light blue spaghetti strapped piece, and the third was a red cocktail dress that was backless, and went just below my knees. I went with the black dress, while Naomi chose the light blue one. Then, we went to look at heels. Naomi found a pair of silver pumps that went great with her dress and then she went to go find some jewelry that went with the rest of the ensemble. I found a pair of black, open-toed, three inch heels. I also found some beautiful necklaces that were perfect for the occasion.

When Naomi saw me looking at the necklaces she asked, "Why do you always where that bat-charm necklace? It normally doesn't go with your outfit."

"It was a gift and I really like it." I replied, not wanting her to know that it was the only reason I was alive.

"Oh, okay. It does have a certain… charm, I guess."

"Thanks." I modeled my outfit for her, using my best strut. "So, how does it look? Think Nick will keel over when he sees it?" Like that could happen.

"Definitely, he won't be able to keep his paws off you!" she laughed, abruptly lightening the mood. I laughed with her trying to compose my thoughts enough to ask Dylan to the dance tonight instead of tomorrow. This way I could model my outfit for him as well. The dance was actually only two days away as I realized today. Tomorrow was the last day I had to ask him before every other girl was all over him. He looked like a god half the time and every girl in our school was attracted to him. I was surprised that he even looked at me twice, considering my ordinariness. That was before I'd realized that he was sent to kill me, and not to date me, but that didn't work out the way he'd planned. Oh well! I'd ask him tonight before Karen got all over me about not socializing more. In Florida, I'd never go much of anywhere, much less the school events, and Karen was always on my case about it.

Chapter 7

"You ready to eat?" I asked starting to get hungry.

"I thought you'd never ask. Let's go get these and hit the Chinese joint. Then, we'll go see the movie." She said, getting excited again.

After some Hunan beef, fried wantons, and rice, Naomi and I went to the movies. We saw a horror film about zombies attacking the world, and I started laughing when the zombie ate someone's liver. I was remembering the day at Cody's where he showed me Bob, the zombie, eating a hostess ding dong. That was one hilarious day. I needed to talk to Cody sometime soon. I hadn't talked to him in a while, though he seemed to be preoccupied with dating Naomi.

"What are you laughing at? That's not funny, it's disgusting and scary. I'm going to have nightmares about that!"

"Then, you shouldn't have picked this movie. I was laughing at the stereotype zombie. Zombies don't eat body parts, they eat chocolate." I stated matter-of-factly. Naomi stared at me wordlessly. "What, didn't you know that? I thought you were the horrific creatures expert or something."

"I normally am, but," she started to say.

"Shh" Three people behind us said wanting us to shut up so they could hear the movie. Naomi and I started to giggle. We went to go get refills and finish our conversation.

"As I was saying, I normally am, but I don't think any one would agree with you. I mean come on, name one zombie movie where the zombies are eating chocolate and not body parts."

"I can't. I hate the way people stereotype those creatures. Not all vampires wear a cloak and tux. I mean have you ever read "Twilight", or "The Queen of the Damned"?"

"No. I haven't."

"In both books, the vampires are almost like normal people. No one can tell the difference between the humans and the vampires. Same thing with a ton of other vampire books. Have you ever read Stormy Knight's books?"

"Yes! That was one of my favorite books ever. Nick somewhat reminds me of Dylan though."

"Why is that? Maybe, it's because Dylan was portrayed like a normal person." I said hoping that she wouldn't make the connection.

"Maybe you're right. Didn't you have to be somewhere at eight?" she asked reminding me that I was supposed to be getting home so that I could ask Dylan to the dance.

"What time is it now?" I asked urgently.

"It's 7:45. Do we need to go now?"

"Yes, I'm so sorry. I didn't think we'd be out this late."

"No problem. I had a great time, and I learned some stuff tonight. We'd better get going."

"Thank you so much." I was so grateful that she'd remembered and seen a clock. We got back to my house at about 8:15. I was a little late, but I don't think Karen will be on my case. After the last time I was late, she'd cut my curfew. Instead of 10:30, my curfew was now 8:00 on the dot. I had a good excuse so it wouldn't be very bad. If she did ground me though, I'd probably sneak out anyway.

"You're late," Karen called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I know. By about fifteen minutes, because our movie started and ended late." It wasn't a total lie.

"Oh, okay. So let me see what you got." I hated it when she tried to act like my friend. It was so annoying, because she never approved of the outfits and didn't even know my style or _size_. I always ended up taking the stuff she gave me back to get it in a different size.

"You'll see it tomorrow night, before I go to the dance."

She looked utterly shocked when I said that I was going to the dance. "You're going to the dance? You? I can't believe it. Who are you going with?" She asked trying to hide her obvious curiosity.

"I'm going with Nick, duh. He is my boyfriend." I said exasperated by her lack of observance. Before she could say anything else I bounded up the stairs with my bags. "Hello, Dylan." I said when I saw him lying on the bed. "I've got a question for you that you might already know. Will you go to the dance with me?" I asked.

"You might already know my answer, but there are conditions to it."

"Like what?" I asked somewhat suspicious now.

"I want to see your whole outfit tonight. If you do that, I'll go with you." He said obviously curious about what was in my bag.

"Okay, give me five minutes." Right now I was grateful that I got a room with its own bathroom. I went into the bathroom and changed. Then, I went out into my room to show him the outfit. When he saw the form-fitting, strapless, black dress put together with the three inch heels and jewelry, his jaw dropped to the floor.

"That's your outfit? You look stunning. I'll be fighting of all of the boys at that dance! Are you trying to get me killed before I get to kill you?"

"Kill me?" I asked not remembering that conversation.

"Yes, when I turn you into one of the undead. Don't you remember that this can only end up one way. With you dead, whether you're in a hole, or if you've joined the vampire community. Now, stop trying to change the subject. "

"Oh yeah, I kind of forgot that part. No, I'm not trying to kill you. I thought you'd like it. Don't you"

"Yes, I love it! But so will every other male in that school."

"So, are you going to the dance with me, or not?"

"I guess I have to, you did show me your outfit. Though I'd rather we didn't go to the dance."

"Too bad. You have to go to a dance, ha ha!" I started to laugh but Dylan cut me off.

"You have to go to that dance with me, you know."

"Well, that was kinda the plan. So it works out."

Chapter 8

The next morning, after a long shower and very little breakfast, I drove to school for the first time in my mustang. When I got near the school, I saw Cody on the sidewalk with Bob behind him. I slowed down and called Cody's name. He saw me and came over to the passenger's side of my car. "Do you know that you have a zombie following you?"

"Really?" he said amazed. He turned around and groaned. "Bob, I told you to stay HOME! You can't keep following me everywhere. Go home and stay. I'll be back soon. I promise." Bob turned around and started walking back towards Cody's house. "Sometimes that zombie can be very stubborn," he said loud enough for only me to hear.

"Would you like a ride to school? I think you'll be late otherwise."

"Sure, thanks."

After about five minutes I asked, "So, how are things with Naomi? You two still

going out?"

"Yeah we're still going out. Sometimes I find it hard to keep my secret from her though. You know that I'm a warlock."

"That's too bad. I mean if she knew, once she was done freaking out, she'd probably be pretty curious. She's really into that sort of thing."

"Yeah, maybe. It's the freaking out I'm worried about. I mean not only is it a major secret it's also something that could get me killed if the wrong person knew. I just don't know what to do."

"Let me try something. By the way if she does dump you over this, she's not worth… okay, I can't say that. She'll probably be cool with it, if you decide to tell her."

The rest of the morning passed pretty much uneventfully. At lunch instead of going straight to Dylan's table I decided to talk to Naomi. "Hey, I have a question for you."

"Okay, fire away. I'm up for anything."

"Okay, let's say that, hypothetically, your boyfriend was a warlock and wanted to tell you. How would you respond to the news?"

"That's an odd question, but, I would be okay with it. I'd think it was pretty cool, unless of course, he used his magic for the wrong reasons."

"Thank you, that's all I needed to know." I called Cody as soon as I was out of earshot from Naomi. "Hey, you know how I said earlier that Naomi would probably be cool with the whole warlock thing? Well, I was right. You just have to tell her, I'd made it a hypothetical question. Bye." I hung up before I heard his reaction. I went over to Dylan's table where he was waiting for me. As I was about to sit down I noticed something that shouldn't be at the school: BOB. As soon as I saw him I redialed Cody's number and told him exactly what I saw. "Bob's headed for the big food freezer. Oh, God! You'd better go get him _now_, before he's seen. I can't take that much drama. Sorry." I said hanging up. Then muttering to myself, "God, vampires, warlocks, and now zombies all at my school, lovely." I said sarcastically. Dylan chuckled at my interpretation.

"All in a day's work, I suppose. Do we still have to go to that dance tonight? I really don't think it's a good idea. I've… heard stuff."

"What kind of stuff? Good stuff or bad stuff?" I was hesitant to his response already knowing in my gut what the answer was.

"Jasmine picked up on the fact that we were going to the dance together. She plans to attack us tonight, at the dance. She doesn't know that I know that she plans to try tonight."

"Okay, I'm confused, but, if we don't go to the dance won't she just get mad and take it out on those who are there?"

"You have a point. She is very short-tempered." At that moment Cody called. He said that he couldn't find Bob anywhere, but wherever he went he kept seeing cave paintings from places Bob had been in the school. I kept him on the phone while I went to go look in the freezer.

"Cody, hold on. There's one place I know where you haven't checked and that's most likely where he is. I going to the school freezer, I saw him heading towards there a few minutes ago."

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I DID, you moron! Now, I'm inside the freezer, and so is Bob. He's doing more of those cave paintings on the walls. Gross! He's using ketchup and _fish-sticks_!" Dylan came up behind me then.

"He's quite the Picasso, isn't he?"

"Oh, shut up. They're _cave paintings_ for heaven's sake!"

"So? They're still remarkable for someone of his skill level."

"_What _skill level? Oh, never mind! Just go get Cody to take him back before anybody sees him." Naomi came in to see why we were in the freezer.

"Might I ask what you're doing in the freezer?" she asked. We didn't get a chance to answer though because she then screamed at the top of her lungs. "There's a ZOMBIE in the FREEZER! It was doing CAVE PAINTINGS too?" she looked like she was about to faint. She then more calmly asked, "Hmm, I wonder. Does it eat chocolate?" After she said the word _chocolate_, Bob's head turned toward her expectantly. "Apparently, it does," she said answering her own question. Cody came in and groaned when he saw who was in the freezer. Not only Bob, but Naomi too.

"Hey Naomi. Have you met Bob? He's sort of my pet." Cody was forcing the words out in an effort to tell Naomi the truth.

"He's your pet? How did you get a zombie for a pet? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Yes, he's my pet. I got him because I'm a warlock, and I didn't tell you because I thought you'd freak out. Sorry though."

"Yeah, at first I would have, but, WHY didn't you TELL ME!"

"I told you I was afraid of how you'd react. Though, right now I'm extremely glad you do know."

"Oh, so you're a warlock. That explains Jesse's weird question!" Dylan and I went inconspicuously back into the cafeteria and left them alone.

After lunch, the day passed uneventfully. We did hear an announcement about the cave paintings in the halls. At that I had to snicker. Dylan was hiding a laugh as well. As school let out I realized that it was only four hours until the dance. And possibly, if what Dylan said was true, my death. At least I was going to die without pain, I'd found that they were very good about that. Unless of course, you've ticked them off, like I have. Oh, God, I'm going to die a horrible bloody death. Instead of dwelling on that, I started typing my story. I was up to the fifth chapter by the time I realized that I had to get ready. I finished up my chapter and turned off the computer. When I turned around, I saw Dylan lying on my bed with an expression somewhere between anger and interest. I took it that he'd been reading the story. At the moment, I was wondering if he knew who he would end up with because I certainly didn't.

"I'm sorry, I'm not ready. Give me just a few minutes." I said still waiting to see if I figure out who he'd end up with. I went and got the dress on and then the shoes. After that I did my makeup. I was wearing a dark lipstick, and a dark purple color eye shadow, that brought out my green eyes. When I was finished I walked out and yet again his jaw dropped. He came over and gave me an urgent kiss.

"You must be trying to kill me," he muttered in my ear.

"Not particularly, not tonight at least," I said back to him. "So are you ready to come pick me up?" I said to him.

"I'll be back in five minutes, but if we see Jasmine, we are going back to my house and I'm changing you, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'll see you in a few minutes." And then he was gone, without a sound. I went downstairs to face Karen. I knew she'd freak when she saw my outfit. This thought gave me a quick jolt of amusement. But when I got downstairs I was surprised to see "Nick" talking to Karen. He'd only been gone about thirty seconds before I came down. I was baffled by how he got back, and when he saw it on my face he chuckled a little and crept into my head, telling me he'd explain once we were in the car. I nodded and finished coming down the stairs. When Karen saw, she freaked as predicted, but it worked out better because she couldn't tell me to go change if my date were there. Josh's jaw dropped and he seemed completely stunned that I would wear something like this given my history.

Dylan walked me to his car and helped me in like a gentlemen. As soon as he was in, he seemed to start to feel uncomfortable. "Are you okay? We don't have to go, if you don't want to," I said trying to help.

"It's okay, I'm looking forward to seeing how they react when they see you in that. Plus, I get to see what kind of a dancer you are,"" he said mischievously.

"Oh God, I've created a monster!" I said sarcastically. He looked absolutely wonderful in his tux. I wanted to kiss him all night but I knew that wouldn't happen.

When we pulled into the parking lot of NWH, Dylan seemed completely at ease. We went in a danced to a few songs, and he completely loved seeing the reaction we got from everyone. About half an hour after we arrived though, Dylan started to stiffen. Abruptly, everyone started to leave. It took all of five seconds for something to click in my head. Something was way off. There was no way everyone would decide to leave at exactly the same time. Jasmine was here. She had us trapped like rats. When everyone was out of the building, she showed herself. Jasmine came down and started with a kick to Dylan's stomach.  
"I thought you would have been able to guard that better. Oh, well it just makes less work for me." She said, as she started to walk towards me. "I'm going to have fun with this one." As soon as she spoke the words, I grabbed a chair and broke off one of the legs. I held it in front of me as a weapon. As Jasmine drew Dylan up off the floor she brushed off his jacket.

"Jasmine, no. Jessica is _mine_. It will be my pleasure to kill her, not yours." Dylan said once he was on his feet again. Jasmine smirked. Though I knew somewhere in my head that Dylan wouldn't hurt me, it didn't stop me from lunging at him when he stalked near me. I used the chair leg and cut his shoulder, drawing a long streak of blood.

He winced and came at me knocking me down onto the floor. "Leave us now, my blood claim is in effect. You cannot touch her." He said once he saw the red line coming from his shoulder. Jasmine growled and left and Dylan looked at me, exasperated. "Why did you take so long? I thought Jasmine might have gotten at you. Why didn't you cut me as soon as I spoke? It would have saved me a lot of trouble trying to make sure she didn't get to you."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't think you'd really hurt me. Are you going to kill me now?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to that question at the moment.

"No, I'm not going to kill you now, I'll kill you later. But don't worry you'll come back. I'm going to turn you. You'll only feel pleasure, I assure you."

I went white at his answer, but it wasn't the scary part. That was the expression on his face. The expression that he was losing something by changing me. It suddenly hit me that this was somewhat like Eclipse, the third book from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, where Edward didn't want to change Bella because he didn't want to risk her soul. I was foolish enough to ask, "Is this about my soul?"

"Yes, it is! I don't want to make you become what I am, though it'd actually be better for me, human blood does little for vampires. We need vampiric blood to keep us healthy. I don't want to curse you to an eternity of drinking blood and no soul to show for it."

"You know that won't happen. You still have a soul now don't you. You were willing to save me. Creatures without a soul don't do that sort of thing." I said. A realization hit me as soon as it hit Dylan. We were going to end up together. Me and him, together forever, it was… amazing.

"Did you feel that spark a minute ago? It happened when I realized who…"

"Yes, do you know what's going to happen?" I asked.

"No, I don't."

The next morning, I woke up to find, Dylan lying next to me, as he did every time he stayed over, (without permission, of course. Karen didn't know). We went to school together, walking today, as it seemed fairly nice for a December day of 29 degrees. We went our separate ways for our morning classes, after Reading class. It started snowing during third period. And when I looked up from my lunch a few minutes ago, I saw Dylan walking towards me looking as if he'd just gotten out of a snowball fight. His hair was glistening with drops of water and had white snowflakes throughout it. When he reached me, he pulled me unexpectedly toward him, and held me hard. My heart was racing when he pulled my face up to his, and though we were in a public place I didn't care. My arms locked around his neck, and I started kissing him back. I broke away first, gasping for air. His lips never left my skin though, they just moved to my neck, where they stayed until I pulled his mouth back to mine. Eventually a teacher came and broke us apart saying that that was inappropriate school behavior. Oh well!

Dylan walked with me back to my house, and we went up to my room, where I started on my Biology homework. Soon afterwards, I heard Karen and Josh walk in downstairs. I heard Josh start for the stairs, so I quickly hid Dylan in the closet, before he got up the steps to the point where he could here the movement. Josh came in before Karen and did a double take of my outfit, for the third day in a row. Karen seemed to think that she'd chosen the perfect girl as a sibling for Josh, as we fought as if we were blood related. Therefore, she was surprised when she walked in to find Josh in my room without us fighting. Some things never ceased to amaze, I guess. I wondered if she were finally going to tell me what she'd wanted to before.

Chapter 9

"How are you?" she asked, not really interested at all.

"Fine, I guess," I replied wondering what she was working up to. "What's up?" I asked trying to pry it out of her, without her noticing.

"Nothing much, your cousin Marissa is coming to visit. She'll be here tomorrow morning. It's winter break at her school and she wanted to see Josh and you."

"No way!" Marissa was the only person in Karen's family that I actually felt related to. Josh and I were her favorite cousins and we knew it. She'd told us as much. With my sudden excitement, Karen's face fell slightly, but it was enough for me to notice.

I immediately knew what that meant. Marissa's boyfriend Andrew was coming with her. Ever since two years ago, when Marissa had started dating him, I'd hated him, though he and Josh got along fine. I had reason enough to, considering that whenever he came with her, he always tried to come onto me.

"_He's _coming isn't he?"

"Yes, he is. Which is why I want you on your best behavior, got it?" I thanked God that Josh had left by that point.

"Only if he is. If he didn't try something every time he was here, I might not hate him as much." A thought dawned on me at that moment. I could keep Dylan with me as much as possible. Then, Andrew would have to stay away from me, hopefully. I'd only have to worry when it was past curfew, and Dylan wouldn't be able to be there.

"How long will they be here?"

"All of next week, they'll leave the following Monday."

Karen took my silence as the end of the conversation, and left. Dylan stepped out of the closet and silently came over to sit next to me. I'd almost forgotten that he was in there. As soon as I looked at him, I saw the confusion on his face, and in his eyes.

"Would you like to stay with me as much as possible starting tomorrow morning?" I asked hoping that he'd say yes.

"Sure, but will you explain this whole thing to me?" he asked still confused.

"Later, okay? It's a long complicated story." I was hoping to not have to explain it but if he wants to know, I'll tell him.

"Yeah, later." He said curious and eager for the story. He left briefly, giving me time to get everything done, before coming back.

When he knocked on the door, Karen answered and was surprised that he was there.

"Hey, Nick. I'm ready, let's go." I started for the door, but Karen stopped me.

"Where are you two going?" she asked.

It was Dylan who replied, "We're going for a walk. Then, we're going to go see a movie and get dinner. If it's okay with you, of course." He said innocently and when Karen nodded we were out the door.

We walked a little further from the house before Dylan asked, "Is it later yet?"

"I suppose it is. Okay, you see I really like Marissa, I mean she's great! But I _hate_her boyfriend, because whenever he comes up with her, he always tries something with me. Usually I want to punch him, especially when he grabs my butt. So, I was thinking that if you were with me, he might get the picture and stop. I hope that's what he does. We won't know until tomorrow though. By the way, you won't be able to stay over at all while they're there. He usually tries something in the middle of the night too. Not even sneak-ins after you're supposed to be gone. Sorry."

I could tell he really didn't like this, but it was the only way this whole thing would work. He was about to say something, but instead he just nodded and we enjoyed the rest of our evening.

The next morning Dylan came over before Marissa and Andrew got there. Karen was skeptical at first but I told her that I wanted him to meet Marissa, and she grew pleased very quickly. About twenty minutes later the doorbell rang and I went to get it. Marissa came in first and then Andrew, who as always grabbed at me in greeting. I heroically resisted the urge to punch him and throw him out. Then, I went to sit next to Dylan, who was sitting on the couch. He wrapped his arm around me when I shivered, and I leaned into his warm body. Andrew looked at us confused and then smiled.

"Marissa would you like something to drink?" Andrew asked.

"Sure that'd be great." She replied.

"Jesse, show him where the kitchen is." Karen piped up.

"I'll be right back," I whispered low enough that only Dylan could hear me. Then, I got up and led Andrew to the kitchen. He grabbed a couple sodas from out of the refrigerator, and turned back to me.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" he asked me. "I mean, he doesn't look like he'd be your type at all."

"You don't know my type whatsoever, and yes, Nick is my boyfriend. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, I don't in fact I'm going to enjoy this more than usual. There's something irresistible about forbidden fruit, as they would say. I'll see you later." He said and with that he walked out, while I grabbed to more sodas and a glass of tea. I walked back into the living room, and handed the tea to Karen. Then, I gave Dylan a soda. I curled up on the couch next to him, and we started talking to Marissa about everything going on. She squealed in delight when I told her privately about me and "Nick". She was so happy. After dinner, to which, Marissa had invited Dylan, I asked him if he could help me with my homework before he went home.

"Sure I could help you with your homework. Let's go up to your room. I could really use some music. Do you still have the CD I lent you?"

"Yeah, I have it. Do you want to listen to that? It was a great CD, who was it again?"

"It was Good Charlotte. I'm glad you liked it. Shall we?" he asked as he gestured towards the stairs with his hand.

"Great, thank you for this." We ran up the stairs before he exploded. I put in the CD and he let out a shout into my pillow, which was muffled even more by the blaring music. He seemed to feel better. I couldn't blame him at all. Andrew was an inconsiderate jerk.

"Better now? I know you just want to hit him, but you can't." I said.

"Yes, that's better. How do you get through even one hour with him? He's so obnoxious! Can you see if you can spend the night with someone?" he asked with an evil glint in his eye.

"No, I can't. Karen would kill me. Now, what do you want to do, while we're supposed to be doing homework?" I asked getting somewhat excited.

"I don't know. I do have to tell you something though. You've probably already written down my thoughts about your books in your books." He saw my confusion and went on. "I don't want you to write any more books, none of the vampires do. And, it would probably be helpful to you if you changed your appearance. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you to live for another few years, with me. Especially if it means that you're away from the imbecile downstairs."

"I won't stop writing. I'm sorry but I can't. Would it be okay if I just stopped getting them published?"

"I guess, but why can't you just stop writing?" he asked truly bewildered.

"Writing is the only thing that gives me a release from my monotonous days here in Winthrop. It was the only thing that made me happy before I met you, though of course, I was writing about you most of the time. How do you expect me to be happy without writing?"

He couldn't answer that question so he just nodded and asked, "So, will you change your appearance?"

"Yes, I will and I have just the right style. We'll go to a store I know tomorrow, after I go to the hair salon. You'll be pleasantly surprised." My plan was to have my blond hair dyed raven's wing black, and put in a parted style. I would get a ton of black clothes and black shoes and make up. I'd try the gothic style, and match with Dylan. On my birthday, he'd given me the gothic style jewelry that I never took off. My new style would allow the jewelry to look normal.

We walked downstairs and towards the door as everyone said goodnight.

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning then. Around 9:00, okay?" he said once he was out the door.

"Perfect, I'll see you then." Then, he leaned in to give me a quick goodnight kiss, before he started running back to his house. Before anyone could say anything I ran up the stairs, into my room. I shut and locked the door, so that Andrew couldn't get in, and started working on my book yet again. After I finished the chapter I was on, I started thinking about tomorrow's events. Karen didn't know about the books, so she didn't know about the publisher and the checks I got for my work. All of that information lied with me. I had a separate bank account with almost 30,000 dollars in it that Karen would know nothing about. I'd use that for my make over tomorrow, plus about 40 dollars from Karen so that she wouldn't get suspicious. All so that I wouldn't get killed, I was trying to fight the inevitable. I was changing myself so that I could stay alive with the only person who truly loves me in this world.

I woke up the next morning feeling exhausted, with someone pounding on my door. It was 8:30, so I did need to get up. I went and opened my door to find Andrew on the other side. He pushed his way into my room pushing me back onto the bed. He shut the door and started coming toward me. I got up and ran for the door, wrenching it open and running for the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and locked it before Andrew could get in, then I started the shower. I figured that Dylan would be okay if I were just a little late, especially after I told him why. I got in the shower and stayed in it until the hot water ran out. I listened to see if Andrew was still waiting for me to come out, he was so I silently unlocked the door, and went to the other side of the bathroom. Then I used the back door of the bathroom (No one knew about it except me. I'd found it when I found a door in the back of my closet). It led into the back of my closet, so I could get into my room without Andrew knowing. The door even locked from the closet, so if Andrew did find it, he wouldn't be able to use it. I locked the door and found my outfit for the day, witch was all black: black stockings, a black miniskirt, a black short sleeved shirt, black and white striped arm warmers, and a black jacket. I checked the clock, 9:05. Dylan would be here by now. I peeked out of the door to my room to see where Andrew was, his gaze was locked on the bathroom door. I sneaked past him and downstairs. Josh was there, talking to Dylan, and when I came down he stared as usual at my outfit. Dylan's gaze lingered just a bit longer than needed, and we started for the door. Josh went upstairs, I heard him talking to Andrew- about me- and then Andrew was running down the stairs.

Dylan and I just made it out before Andrew saw me, and then we got in Dylan's car and went to my favorite hair stylist's.

Jenna- the only person I let do my hair-was great. She dyed my hair black, and got the perfect cosmetics. When I looked in the mirror, I was speechless. All I could say was thank you. I looked completely different. Jenna gave me some special shampoo and rang up my total, which was 35 dollars. Amazingly cheap, for a dye job. Dylan's jaw dropped when he saw me, and at first he wasn't sure if it was really me.

When we left he was still a little surprised that I'd do something like that. Karen had known that I was going to try a new style, I told her as much, though I don't think she expected me to do this.

Next, we went to a gothic store that I knew of. I got a ton of clothes and even modeled some for Dylan. He loved them and said that he was surprised that I hadn't tried being a goth before.

"I'm not sure if I like you with black hair or blond hair better. You really do look completely different; I didn't think it was possible."

"Yes, well hopefully, Andrew won't like me if I look like this, and hopefully the vampires won't recognize me. Those are the goals of this mission. I can deal with it if Andrew still likes me though. I really wish Marissa would dump him, and then I wouldn't have to worry about it."

"Well, we can't change the way people feel about others. You'll have to make due. Though you know, you have me here to protect you."

"Crap! I forgot the nail polish!" I said, and then I looked up to see an almost angry face on Dylan. "What?"

"You made me think for a minute that you didn't want me to protect you! That's what!"

"How could you think that? Of course I always want you with me, why else would I be dating you?" Sometimes vampires could be so dense! "Can we go back to the store and get the nail polish and go home, please?"

"Yeah let's go."

When we got back to my house Karen was the first to see me. Her jaw dropped, and she looked completely confused. She started to ask who I was until she saw Dylan right next to me. She didn't seem to mind so much though. Andrew on the other hand was going off. It was hilarious to see his face go like that, and then to see Marissa's eyes go wide at how angry he was at me.

Dylan had gone to my room, and I was starting up the stairs with Andrew close on my heels. I saw Josh in the hall, and when he opened his mouth to say something, I shot him a look that said: _if you say one word I'll kill you._ He shut his mouth again and stood there completely stunned. I went into my room and slammed the door in Andrew's face. I didn't have time to lock it though, so he came barging in screaming at me yet again.

"How could you do that to your hair? What could have possibly made you think to do something that stupid?" he screamed.

"It's none of your business what I do to my appearance. If you don't leave now though, I can tell you one thing that'll change about your appearance: you'll need a nose job." With that, I started putting away my new wardrobe, and waited for him to leave. He didn't so I tried another approach.

"If you don't get out now I'll tell Marissa about all of the naughty things you've tried any time you come up." I made my voice so quiet that he knew I wasn't kidding. He left in less than two seconds.

"Well that got rid if him" Dylan said from behind me.

"I hate him. Why does he care so much about what I do anyway?" I had always been confused about Andrew and this just gave me one more thing to be confused about. "Can we go to your house? I want to get away from here."

"Yeah we can, I guess. Though we'll have to watch out for the other vamps, they still want to skin you alive. Hopefully your disguise will work though." He said teasingly, though I could hear the worry in his voice.

"It'll be okay. Out of curiosity, who turned you?" All of my books had been from after he'd been turned. I was always curious about that though.

"My "father", Michael, turned me when I was dying from a stab wound in 1898. I'll let you wok out the math to how old I am. Keep in mind that I was 18 when he turned me."

"Will I get to meet him? Has he made any other vampires? Do you all live together?" I couldn't stop all of the questions coming out of my mouth until Dylan put a hand over my mouth to silence me.

"Yes, you can meet him, yes he's made other vampires, and yes we all live together. Any other questions?" he asked

"One more, do your…siblings I guess, want to kill me as well? Will I get to meet them?"

"That's more than one, but, no surprisingly they _don't _want to kill you, and yes you can meet them too. You can meet everyone in my "family" if you want to."

I was ecstatic from that idea; it was so amazing, that I would get to meet the rest of his family. I went to go change into a slightly less morbid outfit. But still, everything worked out.

Chapter 10

When we got to his house, I saw for the first time, how many other people lived in the house. There were five other teenage looking vampires, an older looking pair that looked like they were changed in their thirties and one person who at the moment was just a silhouette in the window, but was probably another teenager. The inside had blaring music coming from it, a dim light (most likely candles), and a lot of conversation. It looked more like a club than a house.

"Is it like this every night?" I asked wide-eyed with my newly black hair coming down in my face.

"Yes and no. sometimes there's more conversation than music, or a lot of music and barely any conversation. Either way, tonight is more of a party than usual. One of my siblings saw that I was bringing you with me, and did a little more than usual. You ready?" he asked making sure that it wasn't too much for me to take in. I nodded still somewhat confused by how many people actually lived in the usually abandoned looking house.

Once we were inside Dylan started introducing me to everyone in the house. The oldest looking male was Michael, the oldest female was Emily. The six teenagers (yes six, the silhouette was another teenager) were Roxanne, Stacy, Bella, Derek, Rocco, and Alexander. Roxanne was the one who saw me coming, Rocco had a lot of strength and it was obvious, Derek well he just had a way with people; he was very open and friendly. They all seemed to like me, so I took that as a good sign. Trying to hear over the loud music though was murder. They were all at ease until suddenly; I was off the ground and flying upward. I was vaguely aware that I was going up the stairs of the house and into Dylan's room. I was stuck on the bed and the door was locked.

Dylan was on edge the whole time listening intently to what was going on downstairs. I could barely make out the voices of his family and one other voice that I knew to well, even having only heard it once. Jasmine was here, looking for me. I had to get out of here, go somewhere she wouldn't find me. It was too much to think of them, trying to protect me.

I looked out the window and saw a fire escape. I might have a chance if I could get away from Dylan. I knew that he'd never allow it. I tried to listen to the conversation going on downstairs, but there were no voices. Two seconds later Dylan's door had been kicked on and Jasmine was standing on the other side glaring at me. I knew she wanted me dead, but at the moment she couldn't do anything to me, as Dylan had invoked a blood claim.

"Hello Dylan, I see you haven't killed her yet. If you thought that a new look would stop me from recognizing her, when I can smell her scent, then you're a complete idiot. By the way, are you aware that your only blood claim has expired? You know you only get one for any human. I can now kill her if that's what I want to do."

When she said that I turned and jumped out the window, landing on the fire escape. I started down it and ran until I'd gotten in Dylan's car. I raced home, and found Dylan in my room when I got there. He was throwing piece of clothing I owned into a suitcase and filling up another one. I was grateful that Karen, Josh, and Marissa were out at dinner. It made everything so much easier. Once Dylan had finished packing my clothes, he looked out the window.

"Okay, once you get outside, I want you to get in the black porshe. You'll be with Roxie, Derek, Bella, and Alexander. Michael, Emily, Stacy, and I are going to follow you. I want you to go to the airport and get the earliest flight you can for DC. I'll meet you there two days after you get there, okay?"

"Yes, I'll do it. I love you. You know that right?" I realized about a split second after he did that it was the first time that I'd actually said those words to anyone. Before I left I went into his arms and gave him a kiss. His lips were urgent, and fevered, but I could understand the tension. Then we started out on our paths. I knew I would see him again, and if I didn't he knew how I felt.

I got in the car with the four vampires who were now protecting me. They barely even knew me, yet they were risking their lives for me.

"Thank you, you're doing this for me, yet you don't even know me."

They all looked at me and I knew why they did this. Dylan was their brother, they loved him, and they apparently knew that he loved me. As we all got comfortable for the drive I started thinking about Dylan, opening the door of my mind to him for once. I started talking to him, and he answered me. I was somewhat glad that he could be in my head, only when I let him. It was al long ride, and I spent most of it talking to Dylan, it was strange feeling like I wasn't the only inhabitant in my head.

The next thing I knew Roxanne was shaking my shoulder gently to wake me up. I wondered how long I'd been unconscious, when I realized that we were at the airport. I'd luckily brought about thirty books, (of course they were mostly vampire books, those are the best kind!) most of them I'd read before though. They were some of my favorites including the Twilight series, Vampire Kisses, the Hollows series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood, some Maggie Shayne books, and the Vampire Chronicles, the few that were non-vampire related were the Maximum Ride books and some of the Cain Saga and Godchild books, as well as the first three Fruits Basket books. I couldn't wait for the new books to most of the series I was reading.

My vampire protectors didn't seem to mind when I showed them how many books I'd wanted to bring. They were in a separate suitcase that was as big as the one with my clothes in it. Roxanne even wanted to compare the fictitious books on vampires to the real thing! She seemed at ease with the whole human with a vampire thing.

I soon had the urge to write as I knew would happen, (it usually does when I read) so I found the notebook that I'd started writing in and flipped to a new page, continuing instead where I'd left off from the computer. I was caught up to the present moment when the plane landed in DC. Amazingly, it was only about 8:00 when we landed. Alexander had called ahead to get two interlocking rooms at a Hilton hotel.

Unfortunately, Dylan had insisted that I only stay with Alexander, even though I only had one thing for bed; a silk nightgown that barely brushed mid-thigh. Plus, there was only one bed in the room, and we'd have to share.

We went into the hotel, and checked in. We'd found out that there was indoor pool, so I planned to go swimming. I'd told Alexander this, and he told everyone else so they'd all packed a swimsuit. I had a black bikini with a dark purple skirt to go around it. I'd seen that Bella and Roxanne had matching light blue one piece bathing suits.

I changed as soon as I got in the room and slipped out while they're backs were turned. As I knew he would be, Alexander was instantly by my side, refusing to let me so much as two feet away from him. It was almost as bad as Dylan.

We went down to the second level, where they had conveniently placed the pool, fitness center, and about twenty rooms. I decided that before I went swimming, I was going to do a little running to calm myself. I went into the fitness center instead of the pool, and a bewildered Alexander followed. I got on the treadmill and started running. I don't know how long I ran, but I'd apparently burned over 1000 calories.

"How long have I been running?" I asked Alexander, grateful that there weren't set hours for the pool.

"About an hour, I didn't know someone could run that long without some kind of a break during. It surprised me that you lasted that long. Are we still going swimming? The others are already in there."

"Yeah, I just had to run off some nerves and nerve endings. I'm just like that."

He laughed at my comment and escorted me to the pool. I was still a little shocked about how long I'd ran, but I was still a little jittery.

I got in the spa first, savoring the warm water. Grateful that Alexander was the one on guard duty, I began to relax a little bit. He seemed at ease with me, and was very comforting. It was a little awkward when I was getting out of the spa and into the pool, and Alexander complimented my swimsuit. Then, he asked for the other vampires' opinions and they all agreed. I had a good time swimming with my protectors. We played childish games of Marco polo, sharks and minnows (in which the boys were the sharks, and the girls were the minnows), and we even had chicken fights. I was against Roxanne, who was on Derek's shoulders. I was on Alexander's and unsurprisingly, I lost the first match. I sat out for the second one while Bella took my place. For the third and fourth matches I surprised everyone by beating both Bella and Roxanne. We even had cannonball contests, at which Derek excelled without question.

When we finally got back to the room, I noticed something on my bed that I hadn't packed. Hell! I didn't even own it! On my bed was a laptop, brand new.

"Whose laptop is that?" I asked my roommate.

"Dylan said it was your's," he said confused. "He also said that you couldn't live without the word files that were on it."

"Oh, yeah." I lied.

I opened the laptop and logged on. After opening the word link, I looked through the saved files. I was shocked by what the files were: all of the ones I'd had on my computer!

I left the laptop and went to change in the bathroom. I was reminded of my current living situation when I came back out of the bathroom in my nightgown, and found Alexander in his pajamas, which were a pair of old sweatpants.

Trying to distract myself, I went to go get one of my many books. I was having trouble deciding on which one to read, so I asked Alexander, "Hey, Alex, could you help me out? I can't decide on a book."

"Sure, I can help. You know, no one's called me 'Alex' since I was turned."

"You don't mind do you? I could call you 'Alexander' if you do."

"No, I don't mind. Now, what books do you have?" he asked.

" I have the 'Vampire Kisses' series, 'Godchild', the 'Maximum Ride' books, and 'The Black Dagger Brotherhood' series, to name a few."

"Okay, why don't you try the Maximum Ride books to start? I'm going to go get everything settled with the others. I'll be right back." He was gone before I had the chance to say anything.

Chapter 11

I went back, and got settled on the bed, turning off the laptop, and getting under the covers. I had my light on and didn't realize until I'd lain down that Alex had been watching me.

"What?" I asked wondering why he was staring so intently. When he didn't answer, I decided to ignore it and started reading the book. I was on chapter 132 of my book (it has very short chapters, but a lot of pages), when I felt a very subtle movement on the other side of the bed.

I looked over at Alex lying next to me, wondering how I'd get any sleep tonight. Suddenly, I was overcome with tiredness and sleep had enveloped me. I slept peacefully and dreamlessly.

I didn't awake again until almost sunset to find that Alexander had rolled over and that I had been sleeping in his arms. He looked so serene; I didn't want to wake him. I figured that I had about half an hour before they woke up. I tried to get out of Alex's arms, just to have him tighten his grip on me. His arms were locked around my waist, and I figured that he was protecting me even while he was asleep.

I was slightly annoyed but figured that I might as well just start talking to Dylan. I said his name in my head and he answered clear as a bell.

_Dylan, where are you? I'm in a hotel with your siblings. One of them sleeping in the same bed as I am, with his arms locked tightly around my waist! Get here soon please. I miss you._

_Don't worry, I'm on my way. By the way which of my siblings is with you?_

_Alexander, why? Don't tell me you're mad! You're the one who wanted him with me instead of the others, besides it's not as good as being with you. Where are you anyways?_

_I'm in Virginia and on my way up to see you now. Only about another hour, can you keep it together until then?_

_Yes, I can, if I could get out of this vampire's arms. I'm really hungry and want to go get something out of the fridge, and he won't let go!_

Just then, Alexander suddenly turned over, pulling me with him as he went as if I were nothing more than a rag doll. He seemed so intent on keeping me safe. I turned around so that I was facing him, and studied his face. After a few minutes, I was wondering what he was dreaming about. His facial expressions kept changing, and he looked as if he were having a bad dream. He pulled me closer, looking for comfort.

Not liking seeing him like that, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and held him close. His breathing seemed to relax, and suddenly without warning he leaned into me and kissed me.

Feeling awkwardly uncomfortably, I held him and kept him comforted while keeping myself safely out of kissing range.

About ten minutes later Alexander woke up and let me out of his death grip thinking I was still asleep.

He turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels. I rolled over and trying to look groggy, woke up.

"Hey, I didn't mean to wake you up, sorry." He said looking slightly embarrassed- I figured it was from finding himself with me in his arms when he woke up.

"It's no problem." I really wanted to get away so I said as naturally as I could, "I'm going to go take a shower." With that, I got some clothes, darted to the bathroom, and locked the door.

A good twenty minutes later, I got out of the shower- not able to put off going to face the vampires any longer- and got dressed.

I walked into our room with impeccably straight hair and a bit of makeup on. Dylan was already sitting on the bed when I turned the corner, and I ran to give him a hug. He welcomed me into his arms as eagerly as I ran to them. I was suddenly conscious of all of the other vampires in the room, and I awkwardly stepped back, breaking our embrace but keeping his hand held tightly in mine.

"What are we going to do here in DC?" I asked wanting to know why we were here. All of the vampires in the room chuckled and I suddenly thought I was missing something important.

"We are going to start seeing just how many people like your books, in DC alone, and then figure out a way to get Jasmine and her crew to keep away from us, without me changing you. I'm not exactly keen on that idea right now, considering that 1) as a newly made, you'll be bloodthirsty which is not exactly playing to our favor at the moment, 2) Jasmine will still try to kill you, even if you're a vampire, and 3) I have a few ideas as to what to do with you before I change you." He said cryptically, and I had a sudden flashback to this morning, after my chat with Dylan. Of its own accord, my gaze slid to Alex briefly and went right back to Dylan. I wondered how he'd take it if I told him.

"I can tell you a rough number about the people in DC who like the book. My publisher set up a website that shows the comments of the people who log on and give their opinions of the book."

"That would save a lot of time, can you pull it up?"

"Sure, it's easy. Just give me one minute." I got up to go get the laptop from the other side of the room where Alex was standing near it.

"You're feeling guilty about something, what is it?" he whispered in my ear as I got close enough.

"Nothing, it's nothing. I need to talk to you privately sometime though."

"O…Kay, may I ask what about?"

"No. I just really need to talk to you." I grabbed the laptop and went to sit next to Dylan. After pulling up the website, I went to the comments page and typed in my username and password. After getting through that, I looked up good comments from DC, and got a rough number, and was presently shocked. Over three million people from DC had read and liked my book. The actual number was 3,781,983 people who'd commented. Out of curiosity I looked up the bad comments and found that there were only three people who hadn't liked my book when they'd read it.

I left Dylan looking at the screen trying to plan his next move. Alexander pulled me into the other room and stared pensively to figure out why I was feeling the way I was.

"Why? Why do you feel like that?" he asked so suddenly that I was surprised.

"I was actually awake before you thought I was. I'd been up for about ten minutes and had woken up to the same thing you did. I talked to Dylan for awhile, but we had finished our conversation before you woke up. Before I go on, what were you dreaming about before you woke up?"

"I was dreaming about someone who I loved since the first moment I saw her. Roxanne."

"Oh, that's sweet. It also explains so much you dreamt about kissing her didn't you?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" he asked somewhat suspicious now.

"Because, this morning- when I'm presuming you were dreaming about that kiss- you leaned over and kissed me, you had me in your arms, but I was facing you instead of being turned away from you. That's kinda the reason I've been feeling guilty, though it could have something to do with me trying to decide if I should tell Dylan."

"Now I get it. Sorry about that though, I probably shouldn't be dreaming about that sort of thing anyway. Go get Dylan, he's wondering where we are. I can feel his confusion. Let's go" he said.

My mood had lightened marginally as I now knew that that was all just a mistake. Just when I thought I might be able to get alone with Dylan, another vampire joined us: Jasmine.

She looked ready for the kill, and I was suddenly living up to my own philosophy of life: don't fight the inevitable.

I stood, knowing about how fear was like an inviting aroma to vampires and that they feed off it. I wasn't scared, I was however mental.

Standing in front of me was a lethal vampire, who wanted to kill me, and I was worried about getting something to eat! Everyone was shocked and had a gaping mouth when I just walked over to the fridge and got a cold piece of cold pizza and started eating it.

"What? I was hungry, I missed breakfast." That seemed to distract Jasmine longer than it distracted my family (yes, I think of them as my family now), because by the time I was on my second bite Jasmine was being pushed out of the room. I was looked at strangely and thanked for providing a distraction. Then, Alex and Dylan were on either side of me and I was getting taken out of the room.

I wasn't exactly sure why it'd just occurred to me to not be afraid of getting killed, but I suddenly wasn't afraid anymore. I knew that I had Dylan with me and that everything would work out eventually.

I could tell that Dylan didn't like the situation but was willing to let me live long enough for him to figure everything out.

Not aware of where we were going, I decided that now was as good a time as any, and told Dylan what had happened this morning. Before I could finish, I saw a familiar vampire's face: Jasper, my brother. He looked positively fierce and I hoped that it was to protect me, though I knew for a fact that it wasn't.

Jasper looked at me as if he didn't recognize me, and comprehension flicked across his face as he realized that I'd changed my appearance. He started toward me and a shiver slid down my back. It wasn't that I was going to die; it was that I was going to die at _his_ hand.

I could hear Jasmine shrieking nearby, and I could feel the tension building. Right when I thought that I wouldn't be able to stand the tension any longer, my cell phone rang.

"Hello, what do you want?" I asked. After hearing Karen rant about how I wasn't there, and how there was a guy friend of mine with her now, who was wondering where I was. I asked her if it was Cody, and she said no. Alarm crept up my spine and I was suddenly anxious.

"Karen," I said. "Get out of the house! Now! I don't have any guy friends other than Cody, and Dylan. It's not Dylan, he's with me, and it's not Cody. Trust me, _get out of the house_!" I heard a scream on the other end and was filled with grief. Karen had just been killed.

"Hello, Jessica. You're all alone now. Karen and Josh are dead. Wherever will you go?" a male voice said.

"Wherever I want to go. Now who are you, I want to find and stake your butt." I said knowing full well that I'd do just that. My family had been taken from me. Again. I wanted to kill them, kill them all and let God sort them out. I hung up the phone and let rage fuel my fight.

"Jasper," I said softly. "You really don't want to make me mad right now. I'm already mad and ready to kill someone. Do you want it to be you?" I said

"Come on sis, I can't wait. You know your dad was a tease and that he wouldn't stay with you much longer."

I was so mad; I just lost it to a red haze. I couldn't see anything, just my target. Somehow I could see Jasper. I went up to him with an exaggerated slowness and just hit him square in the jaw. He stumbled backwards and caught himself. I went at it again with a speed I didn't know I had. I had taken fighting classes since I was thirteen and it was paying off now. Karen had sent me when I was getting into fights at school. She'd said that I needed a way to 'channel my anger' and right now thinking of her, it fueled my rage and kept me going at it.

I was aware that there were people (vampires) watching me, but I couldn't stop, not now. I didn't get hit once, but I'd done a number on Jasper by the time I was done.

I stepped away from him and started walking towards the elevator. After turning to see all of the vampires looking at me as if they'd never seen me, I shrugged and kept walking.

Within seconds the vampires had joined me, as I knew they would. Dylan was on one side of me and Alex on the other.

I was ready to burst into tears, but I knew it would show a sign of weakness, which at the moment was not a good thing. Soon, I'd grieve; I'd give Karen and Josh the proper rest they need. I'd done it before; it was one thing I knew very well.

Something Karen's murderer had said was true though: I _was_ all alone now, and I had no one to turn to for comfort.

I leaned into Dylan looking for some of the comfort I so desperately needed at the moment, and found it. Dylan gave me a long hug and held me close as I tried to fight back the tears that were welling up in my eyes.

Chapter 12

I'd always known that death was inevitable, which was why I never tried to fight it. What I didn't know was that, for each person you know and love, the hurt of losing them is different. It burns your soul at a different speed or a different angle. Though I'd never said so, I did love Karen and Josh. They took me in and cared for me like I really belonged in their family.

I don't know how long I held onto Dylan for support but he supported me effortlessly, and didn't complain.

"I love you, I really do." I said wanting him to know that before I lost him as well. Everything I care about, I eventually lose.

"I love you too, Jessie."

At the moment, I knew that I had to steel my heart so that I'd never get hurt like this again. I would resolve my problem of getting to close to the ones I love by removing my heart from the equation. It's the only thing I can do anymore.

We walked out of the hotel and went to get in the car. Once everyone got settled I decided that now would be a good time for a nap, so I nestled my head against Dylan's shoulder and started to doze off, hopefully so that something would come to me for my books, but then again why bother to even finish them if they were going to get me killed?

_Emerald got out of the car to find herself on the edge of a cliff. Darren joined her in the hopes that she would find something familiar. Emerald had been out of the hospital for three days after suffering a mild concussion and now memory loss. They took a walk on the beach like they used to only it was different somehow. It was almost like she wasn't all there. Darren couldn't do anything to help her and it frustrated him to no end. She was his life mate for god's sake! She should remember something, anything would be better than this…this void that he was feeling. If only there were some way to get her to remember! Darren looked over at her noticing that she looked almost like she used to. _

"_Darren why are we at the beach? I thought we were going to your cousin's big Halloween bash tonight. You said he'd never let you miss it." Emerald said. Darren was so overjoyed and surprised that the memory loss just suddenly went away, that without thinking he went over to Emerald and kissed her so fiercely that she didn't know what to do. Sometimes when he did things like that, it was hard to remember that he was a vampire and that she was a dhamphir (part vampire, part human). All of her emotions started swirling in the air creating a powerful aphrodisiac for Darren._

"_We were supposed to, but I think we can be a little late for it. Don't you?"_

_Emerald's eyebrows lifted at the thought and-_

I woke up with Dylan's sudden movement, and wondered just how long I'd been lying with my head on his shoulder.

"What time is it?" I asked. Dylan looked at me and suddenly gave me a tight hug.

"It's seven-thirty. Who's Darren by the way? And Emerald?" he asked still holding me close.

"Oh, they're characters from one of my books. Why?" I said thinking that I must have been talking in my sleep again.

"You were talking in your sleep again, describing something that happened last year with a couple of my good friends."

"Really? I wouldn't mind meeting them, if they don't want to kill me. Wait a minute. Does this mean that all vampires have a life mate? I want to know if they do."

"Yes we all have life mates; we can tell if someone's our mate by three things: we can taste food again, we can feel emotion again, and we go protection crazy with them. Not even a scrape during the first few months."

"So, who's your life mate?" I asked knowing it wasn't me. The attraction was there, but who knew if any of the three things had happened to him since they met.

"You. I don't know how or why, but I know it's you. I did the moment I saw you." He said. "Let's go home."

"But where is home now? Karen and Josh are dead."

"Your home is wherever you are as long as you're with the one who makes you happy. Do you want to get anything from your house?"

"No. They've probably burned the house down making it look like a gas leak. Can we just go back to your house?" I said. I wasn't in the mood to try to go see what the place looked like tonight.

"Sure."

We drove the rest of the way back to the airport, and soon we were on a plane headed home. I was strong enough to know that soon I'd have to deal with this, and I only knew one way to do that.

By the time we got back to Dylan's house the others who weren't with us had gotten back too. Dylan took me up to his room and went to go get something for us to eat after I'd reassured him that I'd be okay. But I wasn't okay; I'd just lost the last person who'd ever cared for me other than Dylan. Thinking about that only made me think of how many times death had occurred around me. It was a recurring theme to my life and soon enough I knew that the theme of my life would lead me somewhere else.

Though I'd tried to fight it, I couldn't stop myself from breaking down and crying. I knew it would hurt, but this pain was different. It felt like I'd been stabbed in the leg, where my grandmother's death felt like an arrow through my stomach and my parents' deaths felt like my throat had been split open while I was getting stabbed all over the rest of my body. For a brief moment I wondered what it'd feel like if I lost Dylan, I thought that it might feel like a bullet through the heart, especially now. He was the last person I had in this world.

Dylan came in with the food right after I'd finished crying. He looked strangely solemn when he came in. I got him to sit down next to me and cuddled up next to him. He set the food aside figuring that we'd eat later and started to lay down with me.

After we'd gotten comfortable I asked him, "So how does this whole life mate thing work? I mean is it like there's only one for any vampire, or can you have more than one?"

"We can have more than one, but there's a twist. If our life mate is human when we meet them, then only we can turn them. So, if any other vampire tried to turn you, you'd die. I never really thought about what my life mate would be like. Though I certainly never thought it'd be someone like you: headstrong, semi-uncooperative, opinionated, and worst of all lethal."

"So basically just like you. You'll get over it. Besides I never thought I'd fall for someone like you either. Karen always wanted me to fall for the conservative golfer from Dullsville, when though I never thought about it, I always thought that if I did fall for someone, it'd be someone who's a wild rocker. I _never_ thought that I'd fall for a goth-punk vampire with too many brothers and sisters to count who aren't even related to him!" I teased.

"Really? I wouldn't have pegged you for a girl to go gaga over a guitarist. Are you unhappy with who you're meant to be with?"

"NO! I love you for Christ's sakes! You're the one I want to be with. I was just saying is all. God you are so dense sometimes."

"Oh well." He said.

That night Dylan slept next to me with his arms around my waist protectively. Though at one point he'd said that he could mean it seductively. I'd told him that I'd love to see how that works, and boy he showed me! After he turned me around and demonstrated, we started kissing. After he'd fallen asleep, I stayed awake thinking about Karen and Josh, my parents and grandmother, and death. I knew mine was coming fast, and I knew that I wanted to have Dylan be the one to kill me.

I finally fell asleep, and was dreaming as usual.

_CJ found Bryce in the woods, taking his favorite form: an eagle. She knew there wasn't much time as she walked towards him._

"_Bryce, please listen! I don't know how this is supposed to work, can't we work this out?" she called. He was about to take off, she could tell._

"_You don't want me, and though you're the only one who can save my soul; I don't want you to be unhappy." He said._

"_Bryce! You blind fool! Can't you tell? I love you. How could you think differently when I risked my neck so many times when I could've left you for dead?"_

_Bryce shifted back into human form hastily and turned to his life mate. CJ was the one who could save him, though he was supposed to take his leave a while ago._

"_Carol Joyce, if what you say is true, then there is only one thing left I can do: I must turn you."_

"_Okay, as long as you're the last one I see as a human and the first I see as one of the undead, I'll be fine."_

_Bryce came over and kissed her quickly. Then, he bit down on her neck and let her hold on to his shoulders for support. He lifted his head away and laid her down._

_CJ could feel her systems shut down, and soon it felt as if she were drowning in her own blood. She stopped breathing and she knew the moment that she'd gone. It felt as if she had gone to heaven and come back. _

_Bryce watched her become completely still and saw the light leave her eyes. Immediately she started seizing and she choked out her first breath as she sat up and regained herself. He knew she needed to feed by the iridescent red glow to her eyes._

_CJ became the predator. Stalking the animal as her prey. CJ jumped through the bushes with a vampire's speed and quietness, and caught the deer by its long neck. She bit down and started sucking away. About a minute later she heard someone approaching. Assuming that it wouldn't be a vampire- they wouldn't be that noisy- she whirled on the stranger, and started stalking her newest prey._

I woke up to find myself nestled against Dylan's shoulder and shivering. Dylan had stolen all of the blankets. I scrunched myself closer trying to find someway to get some of the blankets from him. I pulled a little at the blankets, and got some of them over me as his arm fell around my shoulders. I felt comfortable ands safe in his arms and I knew that I was going to spend the rest of my apparently very long life with him.

Later, after everyone had woken up, we were playing board games and watching cheesy movies. I was playing a game of chess against Dylan and kept my guards up. Surprisingly, I won. I turned to see what new movie that they were putting in and saw that it was one of the cheesiest kung fu movies ever: _Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. _As soon as the movie started all of the vampires were silent.

The next thing I knew I flying through the air with Dylan. There was a hole in the wall and behind it stood Jasmine. Her long black hair was flowing all around her from the wind outside. She looked positively feral. She lunged for the nearest breathing thing. Catching Derek by the arm she flung him out into the yard.

Dylan started towing me towards the front door. Once we were outside he lifted me onto his back and started running. He didn't stop until we were about forty-five miles away and in a cave.

"What is her obsession with killing me? I don't think I did anything to her, did I?" I asked.

"You didn't do anything to her physically, but in your books you portrayed her as somewhat weak. She doesn't have my "aura of power" as you call it, though I do sense it in you." He said. "She doesn't like feeling like the weak one. She hates being considered prey. She also doesn't like having the only battle she's ever lost being printed and available for anyone to find and read."

"Oh. Well at least we have something in common. We both hate being prey. Jasmine doesn't strike me as the type to be consistent though, she seems more like a wild flame. Like an uncontrollable panther. How can you stand being near her when she wants to kill you though? You two usually want to kill each other but you went everywhere together."

"That's a good question; I think it was because we were trying to provoke each other. One thing is certain now, though."

"What that the only thing that is certain is the uncertainty of life?"

"No. That we have to turn you as soon as we can get back to my house."

"What?" I said so low that not even he could hear me.

"Come on Jesse, we need to go." He said urgently.

When we got back to his house, Dylan started talking to his family about turning me. I had thought I was ready for this, but truthfully I wasn't. While Dylan and his family argued I started thinking about everything.

I don't know what to do. Dylan wants to turn me, but I'm not ready. On the other hand though, I also don't want Jasmine to try coming after me again and succeeding. Or any other vampire, for that matter. If she did, I was as good as dead.

What's a girl to do in this situation?

This girl ran. I ran away from my problems and everything. I went to the last place anyone would I would go: 1820 Sun Boulevard, my parents' house. Technically I owned the place and there was no mortgage or anything like that, so I went back to the first place I'd ever called "home".

I looked out over the water, which seemed to dominate the rural landscape, while I was traveling. I'd heard about the people who were getting mauled out here by bears. It was near the mountains, I'll admit, but not close enough for bears. I knew better now. While the towns around the area consolidated for protection, a vampire was probably walking right through even though he or she was the one terrorizing them.

The vampires were tearing people and towns apart looking for me. What does every vampire in the world want to kill me? I guess it's a good thing they didn't know where I was headed.

I knew I'd have to go back to the uncertainty of my life sometime and face _all _of the vampires. I'd have to leave this beautiful landscape and its docile creatures to go back to my fate.

When I got there, I went in using the key from under the stone raccoon we kept by the door. After going through the entire house from first story to second, I was finally at the last door. My parents' room. So far everything was exactly how I remembered it, hopefully so would this.

It was hard to remember all of the memories I had from this room. I had spent half of my time living here in this room. I'd played hide-and-seek with my parents in here and been rocked to sleep in my mother's arms when I'd been a baby. I'd even slept in between my parents whenever I'd have a nightmare. This had been my favorite room in the entire house.

I crept back into the spot where I use to sleep in hopes that it would calm and comfort me. I was so accustomed to hiding my emotions from everyone- even me- that it took me a minute to realize that I was crying. Tears were streaming down my face and there was no use fighting them, so I let them run their course.

I knew that eventually I'd have to go back, but right now I didn't care, I felt safe. I felt as if no one could get to me and like no one was after me. Being back here almost felt as if I'd gone back in time.

I started thinking about Dylan and his family. They had a substantial amount of money and were very fickle when it came to spending it. They had the potential to great things with it and wanted it to go to the place that needed it the most.

I started thinking about all the vampires I'd met since I came here. Many of them had tried to tamper with my memories and had once put a wild story in her head. It'd been an anecdote about my father, who in the story, had made a counterfeit copy of a Picasso painting and sold it for millions. What's worse though is that I'd actually believed it!

There hadn't been one iota of truth in the story but I guess it just goes to show that humans and vampires alike were fallible.

I heard a rustling noise outside and immediately my guard was up. I went silently to my father's dresser and opened the top left drawer to get the knife that I knew he always kept in there. Feeling irrational and paranoid- but still better- I held the knife the way I'd been trained.

Hearing a stair creak with weight, I knew that I wasn't being so paranoid. I tensed myself for a fight. No one would take away the last place that meant anything to me. I wouldn't let them. This was the last place I had and it would not get stolen as the other places had.

The person started walking towards the room I was in, and I stanced myself for the kill.

"Jesse? Is that you?" Dylan's voice came from the hallway.

Loosening my stance, I called, "Yeah, it's me. Come on in." I was wondering about the feeling in my gut and the way I hadn't yet dropped the knife when the door started to creak open. I was getting tenser by the second and for some reason I had a really bad feeling about whatever was going to happen next.

As soon as the door was fully open, I was ready for a fight. And it was a good thing too, because it wasn't Dylan on the other side of the door; it was Jasmine. I'd apparently forgotten about her mimicking abilities as well.

Once I saw her I knew one of three things were going to happen in the next twenty minutes. (1) I was going to die by Jasmine's hand. (2) I would receive a miracle and be able to kill Jasmine (for good) before she could kill me. Or (3) I could stall Jasmine long enough to send out a mental message to Dylan and give him enough time to get here and bail me out before Jasmine got a vital blow in.

So far it didn't look like option two was much of an option, so I tried for option three. Sending the message to Dylan was the easy part, but stalling Jasmine long enough for him to get here would be a little trickier.

"Long time, no see, Jasmine. I was starting to miss you. Oh well, it looked like Gregori had his hands full since last time." (Gregori had been the vampire who killed Karen and Josh) "He seemed like some kind of ferret with a chainsaw."

"I won't miss him. Especially during the next few minutes."

"Why won't you miss him in the next few minutes?" I said faking concern in my voice. She hadn't seen the knife yet.

"I'll be to busy killing you." She said with a smile.

I smirked. "That wasn't very nice you know. You're a lady; you should be more docile and submissive. More like _prey_." I said knowing that would get her angry and that she'd try to kill me sooner. She started to charge me seemingly automatically. She was –unfortunately for her- looking at my face and not my hands. When she got close enough I plunged the knife into about the area where the heart should have been and then slit her throat. I dragged her body outside and burned it, then scattered the ashes. I wasn't taking any chances that she'd come back. Dylan came up almost silently behind me.

"That took a lot of courage." He said. I didn't know if he meant me walking out as I had or if he meant me fighting Jasmine.

"Thanks." I said in return.

Dylan walked me down to the old swing set in the backyard and we started swinging.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have walked out the way I did. I was just so frustrated and confused! I love you, I truly do, but though I thought that I was ready to be turned, I'm not."

"I wish you would have told me how you felt instead of running off like that. You know I would have listened to you. I don't want you to be afraid of telling me how you feel, especially when it concerns you!" he said.

"I'm sorry. I should have talked to you. You're right. I was just thinking about everything at once and needed to get away from everything. I'm glad you're here."

"Jesse… Well at least the danger is behind us. I'm pretty sure Jasmine is gone for good."

"Does that mean we'll go back to school? I miss Naomi and Cody. Please."

"Yes, of course we're going back to school! What do you think I'd let you drop out?"

"I wasn't sure! God, you can be so patronizing."

Three days later we were back at school. We were also back to academic dulldom. Everything was back to normal except for a few things.

I was now a goth, Dylan and I were _officially_ dating, I didn't have a vampire coming after me to kill me, and I knew I had some thinking to do before Dylan changed me. Also, I had to time some things before the rest of the vampires tried to kill me, they were already on their way.


End file.
